I just wanted to share real quick that we have been using Bruce Coville books for Shakespeare. He does a good job of making the story easier to read for young children. They have nice illustrations, too. I have never read any Shakespeare, and even as an adult I am really enjoying reading a condenced version of the plays. So far we have read The Tempest, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and are currently reading Twelfth Night.
Alice, what age(s) are your kid(s)? Mine are five and six and I would like to find something a little more lively (and contemporary) than the Nesbitt or Lamb versions. I just requested Lois Burdett’s “Shakespeare Can Be Fun” version of Midsummer Night’s Dream from our library network. It is written in rhyming couplets and illustrated by kids. Has anyone else used these books?
I should have mentioned the ages of my kids! I’m reading it to my 6 1/2 year old. I still have to go pretty slow with it. We take 2-3 weeks to get through it, reading a page or so a day. I was going to read out of the Lamb’s book, but that is WAY too advanced for a 6 year old, imo! I’ll have to look into the book you mentioned. I like the idea of it rhyming! Thanks for sharing!
That’s where I first read about them, Lindsey! Good ol’ Ree…
This is a sentence from Lamb’s retelling of Midsummer Night’s Dream: “There was one instance, however, of an old man, whose name was Egeus, who actually did come before Theseus (at that time the reigning duke of Athens), to complain that his daughter Hermia, whom he had commanded to marry Demetrius, a young man of a noble Athenian family, refused to obey him, because she loved another young Athenian, named Lysander.”