Buy on Amazon
View on Biblioguides
Who was Robin Hood? His name has become part of our culture, with well-known phrases such as “robbing the rich to give to the poor.” Sometimes criminals are called “Robin Hoods” if they give away any part of their ill-gotten gains. His companions such as Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, and Little John have also become part of our literary heritage and even our culture. Most people don’t know that Robin Hood’s story is really only known to us from a handful of medieval ballads (poems set to song).
His life is set in the time in England when King Richard the Lionhearted was away at the Crusades and his evil brother, Prince John, ruled in his place as regent. There were oppressive taxes across England, making the poor poorer and producing many outlaws. Robin Hood, a master archer, led an outlaw band based in Sherwood Forest and fought the Sheriff of Nottingham in many adventures. The fight against the cruelty of Prince John ended with the return of King Richard, the true king. Robin lived happily ever after with his love, Maid Marian.
If you couldn’t tell from the above text, I love stories about Robin Hood. Reading a picture book about him was one of my earliest and fondest reading memories. A friend of mine once told me that he thought the story of Robin Hood was really the story of the church: the true king is not present, the people are oppressed by an evil would-be usurper, but all will be set right when the true king returns. Sound familiar? How about the title of the third book in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings? The Return of the King! Sounds like someone else also used this analogy in their story…Tolkien was British, after all…
There have been many adaptations of these ballads into novels, with each author having a bit of a different “take” on the stories. One book is The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green (1918-1987). This is a very nice retelling, well-written, suitable for middle to high school reading levels. Roger Lancelyn Green was a librarian and writer, mainly of re-tellings of ancient stories such as those of Greece, King Arthur, and Robin Hood. He studied at Oxford under C.S. Lewis and became a life-long friend. It was Green, among others, who encouraged Lewis to publish The Chronicles of Narnia.
The Chronicles of Robin Hood is by Rosemary Sutcliff, the famous historical fiction writer for middle to high school levels. I have read many of her books, which are mainly focused on Roman Britain, although she does deal with other parts of British history. As might be expected, her re-telling/adaptation of the Robin Hood stories is a deep and dramatic story, with her own trademark seriousness.
Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest by Ann McGovern (1930-2015) is a more juvenile retelling of the Robin Hood legend, suitable for upper elementary school readers. She includes the main elements and characters we know and love, but simplifies them into a child-scale narrative. McGovern spent most of her life in New York City and wrote more than 50 children’s books that sold over 30 million copies.