Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Starred Review. Grade 5-8–In the vibrant and compelling voice of a storyteller, Morpurgo retells this classic tale. With a lively, page-turning style, he sets the scene as a crude, gigantic stranger rides into King Arthur's hall. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge of the monstrous man and beheads the Green Knight with a single swing of his battle-ax. But then the enchanted knight picks up his severed head and announces that Gawain must, on his honor, meet his dreadful opponent on the next New Year's Day to receive the same blow. Gawain's travels to the Green Chapel at the end of the year, and the temptations he encounters along the way, are the stuff of legend and, like all folklore, are rich in metaphorical meaning about what it means to be human. Morpurgo's sprightly writing brings out all the humor as well as the horror of the original tale, and Foreman's profuse, evocative watercolor-and-pastel illustrations highlight the drama in each scene so that this version can easily be read on two levels–as a rollicking adventure tale or an allegorical saga, depending on the age and inclination of the reader. Selina Hastings's picture-book version (HarperCollins, 1981; o.p.), illustrated by Juan Wijngaard, is a much-abbreviated retelling; Morpurgo's version is notable for including every nuance of this complex and compelling tale.–Connie C. Rockman, Stratford Library Association, CTCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.