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Shakespeare:Which Play for This Year and Publisher Suggestions
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I am trying to decide which of Shakespeare’s plays I would like to go through this year with my children. Those who will be listening in are ages 10, 7 going on 8, and I’m sure the almost 4yo will pop in and out! I think I have it narrowed down to:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Comedy of Errors
Any suggestions between these two? I am totally not stressing about this but thought it would be fun to get some input. Which of Shakespeare’s plays have you enjoyed the most with your children? I adored Shakespeare in high school and college and am excited to share with my little ones!
Also, I have no idea which publisher(s)/editions are best, so I would really love recommendations here. I had an anthology in college that I sold back to the campus bookstore, and I could kick myself! Of course, as a “starving” college student, I was thinking that 30.00 could buy my week’s worth of groceries! 🙂
One last request: If you have found any other resources or helps in studying Shakespeare with young ones, I would love to hear about them!
Thanks all!
I recently got A Midsummer Night’s Dream For Kids by Lois Burdett from the library. The boys enjoyed it. I also got Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare. We will probably read that version as well. My boys are 11 and 8. I do own The Complete Works of Shakespeare (an old copy) and other copies of a couple random plays, but will hold off on those for another year or two for my oldest, sticking with the children’s version for the younger for a bit longer.
We use the Burdett and Lamb resources 4myboys mentioned. We also like the Jim Weiss audio retellings of Shakespeare.
Both of those are really fun and good ones to do with young kids. Comedy of Errors is a little funnier, MSD is much better known and there’s more “support” out there. BOTH of them can be confusing, though, so I do recommend putting a little effort in to some way to keep everyone straight–who loves who, who thinks who is who—lol. Our absolute favorite is Much Ado About Nothing. We are doing Twelfth Night this year, I love it too.
Publishers—it’s nice for one parent to have a Simply Shakespeare or a No Fear Shakespeare edition, but DO NOT GIVE THEM TO THE KIDS. Otherwise, I like Folger’s, Wordsworth’s and Signet’s really well; Pelican is usually OK too. We usually have a mishmash and occasionally have a discrepancy between versions which relied on different folio editions, but it doesn’t bother us much. I get my copies on Paperback Swap so I just take what is available; this way I can afford for everyone to have their own. You can also download digital copies if you have devices; this is another inexpensive option.
Have fun! Shakespeare is one of our favorite parts of homeschool.
When they are a bit older, and you want to do the full Shakespeare, consider the “Family’s Shakespeare” “in which nothing is added to the original; but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read in a family.”
There is an online copy here… http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/editors/bowdler.htm
Thank you so much for all of these great suggestions! Sounds as though I have several options. I didn’t know Jim Weiss did Shakespeare readings! We will definitely be checking into that!
Bookworm: I definitely like your idea of having a “help” available to mom and dad!
Suzukimom: Family’s Shakespeare sounds very interesting. I will have to check it out!
Thanks all!!
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