Shakespeare

Discover the joys of Shakespeare’s plays retold in an innovative and lively way. The comic book style illustrations and the delightful details make these stories accessible to young readers. Pupils will enjoy the tales of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and more.

A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories is a collection of 12 of Shakespeare’s plays rewritten as stories for children in Year 3 and up. Each story begins with a title page with wonderful illustrations depicting some of the characters and important objects featured in the story. There is also a quotation from the original version. This is followed by a list of the main characters in the story and an illustration of each one, which is handy to refer back to when reading the story as it also includes how the characters are related to each other. There are beautiful illustrations throughout each story, some of which are full page spreads.

The stories are faithful to the originals and although rewritten to be accessible to younger children, they do not shy away from using ambitious vocabulary. There is some use of language that children may not be familiar with, such as ‘thee’, but this provides a great opportunity for discussion of how language has changed since the plays were originally written and how some words are still in use. At the back of the book, there is some information about Shakespeare and his life as well as a full list of his plays. There is also some additional information about each of the stories in the book including a brief overview of each one and an idea of where the story came from.

This is a story that depicts one aspect of childhood anxiety in such a gentle way – weaving a variety of themes, including shyness, family and even an introduction to Shakespeare into one tale. The story is engaging and describes a range of emotions in an accessible and intelligent way.

The story centres on Violet, a shy child riddled with self-doubt and confidence issues when she is cast as the main lead in a Shakespeare production. Her family, including her nan and uncles, try to help Violet’s self-esteem. The story has an excellent approach to explaining the physical and emotional feelings related to anxiety, but more importantly, how to overcome them. Eagleton also embraces diversity in Violet’s support network of her family.

Clara Anganuzzi enhances the story with wonderful illustrations that perfectly portray the emotions at play. The illustrations feature intricate details in places, including photographs on the wall in the background of scenes. All these details add to the rich family diversity explored in the story.

Maz Evans has crafted a story brimming with humour, heart and unforgettable characters in The Last Bard. From the very first page, readers are swept into a world where friendship and hope shine brightly, even when the odds seem stacked against them.

The premise of the story is a boy (the last living relative of William Shakespeare) with befriends a larger-than-life cast of Shakespeare characters who have jumped right out of the pages of an inherited copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

The main characters are wonderfully drawn; flawed, funny and full of life. Their struggles and triumphs feel real,  whether it’s their witty banter, moments of vulnerability or the courage they show when faced with daunting challenges. At its core, this is a story about friendship and hope in dark times. Maz Evans balances these heartfelt themes with her signature humour and fast-paced storytelling, making the book both deeply emotional and entertaining.

Shakespeare for Everyone is a step-by-step book that describes William Shakespeare’s plays and poetry in an engaging and informative way. Although there is a lot of text within the book, it remains easily manageable to read in distinct sections using the contents page and varying text layout on each page.

The book contains not just the details of Shakespeare’s writing in comedies, tragedies, histories, romances, poetry and sonnets but also about his life and the impact of his work. Each page has interesting facts about his writing, life, quotes from texts and historical links.

This is an excellent text to use for anyone studying Shakespeare or his works. It gives detail about his works and ensures a deeper understanding of his life and legacy. The illustrations by Sarah Tanat Jones add extra understanding to the text and the plot of different plays are portrayed in a range of visual ways, including in story map style presentations. To add further to the detail within the book, there is a glossary and a timeline of the greater works of Shakespeare.

Part of the ‘Find Tom in Time’ series, ‘Shakespeare’s London’ is a brilliant book for introducing young readers to Shakespeare’s historical context.

Each double-page spread is a ‘Where’s Wally’ style image in which Tom, his Grandma, and his cat are hidden for children to find, along with various other characters and happenings listed in a ‘Can you Spot?’ box on each picture. Tom visits the Belle Sauvage Inn, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, and, of course, the Globe, among other places, and each location plays its part in the story of Tom’s day and has its own two-page picture.

Peppered across the busy illustrations are also fascinating facts – did you know that the Tower of London housed a Menagerie of exotic animals from across the world, or that builders once used St Paul’s Cathedral as a shortcut, carrying their heavy loads right through its centre?

This is an excellent choice for a school library, combining fun with learning, and a great book to have in the classroom during a topic on Shakespeare.