Absolutely perfect children’s book. Everything from the size to the dust jacket and paper quality to the illustrations is harmoniously chosen, well-crafted, and worthy of the text.
The illustrations are amazing in themselves. It is weird as it is to read a Weinersmith book that does not look like https://www.smbc-comics.com/. And they also don’t look like https://english.bouletcorp.com/. They are easy to “read”, but very detailed and convey both the innocence of the story at the meta level and the awe, terror, and glory of the story from the inside. The detail level will add to re-reading, I’m sure there will be more and more cool finds every time.
The poem itself is true to the original in the aforementioned awe, terror, and glory as well as in the satisfying use of kennings and alliteration. It’s juicy and fun to read and suitable for children without cutting down on fear and danger. I was dubious that this could be done, and I was wrong to doubt.
Overall a joy, worth many re-reads, and I hope they do the part with Grendel’s mother next.