Today’s title is the book ‘A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories’

Title: A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories
Author: Angela McAllister
Illustrator: Alice Lindstrom
Age Range: 7 – 10 years
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Lincoln Children’s Books (September 6, 2018)
Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Childrens
Category: Children’s Fiction

Book Description:

Step on to a stage full of stories with this beautiful anthology of 12 stories from Shakespeare. Featuring much-loved classics such as The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello, each story is rewritten in a comprehensive way that is accessible for children and stunningly illustrated by collage artist Alice Lindstrom. This lavish follow-up to A Year Full of Stories and A World Full of Animal Stories is the perfect gift for book lovers young and old.

My Thoughts On ‘A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories’:

Angela McAllister provides an accessible, approachable Shakespeare for younger audiences and for all those who stayed away from the bard for any number of reasons. She writes in straight-forward, clear, contemporary English that make it easy to understand for the intended target audience of 7 – 10 year olds (and even older!).

The plays start off with a quote from the bard accompanied by a cover-page illustration for the play. A pictorial depiction of the main characters that includes a briefest of introductions to them follows and the story itself takes about six pages to tell. Each story is accompanied by about four to five vibrant, collage-style illustrations that capture the feel of the story perfectly (and lend to the tale by doing so).

What I loved:

• The variety of tales included in the book – the book includes my favorite tale – Twelfth Night, as well as stories like Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Much Ado About Nothing among others.
• The essence of each story retained in this version for kids without glossing over the harsher events that occur, and within six pages!
• The inclusion of original lines in betwixt the text seamlessly, like, in the ‘Twelfth Night’ – ‘If music be the food of love, play on’

• The fact that it proves its point – being accessible for the younger audiences – so well. My tween dd attested to this fact!
• It also includes sections with information about Shakespeare and a brief introduction to the plays included in the book, as well as a complete play list, which make for informational and fun reading.
• The gorgeous illustrations – I loved the color, the collage-style work, and am sure that younger audiences will truly enjoy this artwork. It seems like just the right amount of illustrations for this age-group making a transition from picture books to chapter books.

In Summary:

While the beauty of the bard’s original works is lost in a simplified version such as this, the book provides the magic of his plots and the introduction to what could be when young readers read the bard himself. This will make a great gift to all of those who love to read, to those who are reluctant to read Shakespeare, and also to those who love Shakespeare, and also to introduce the bard to just about any and all audiences (young and old)!

Rating: A
Reading Level: 6+
Reread Level: 4/5

Disclaimer: Thank You #NetGalley for the DRC of this book; a physical copy of which will be making its way into my home library soon!. The opinions are my own.

Question to You, Dear Reader:

Have you read the bard’s works? Have you read any other versions of his works, like this one? Do let me know you favorite.

Another book I enjoyed that does a good job of introducing Shakespeare to kids is the Poetry for Kids series.

Writing this post as a series for the Ultimate Blog Challenge and Write 31 Days.  31 Days, 31 Books! This is for Day Twenty Four, almost a week later (and a whole lot of catching up to do!)

Day 0 Day 1  Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5  Day 6  Day 7 Day 8 Day 9  Day 10 Day 11  Day 12 Day 13   Day 14  Day 15  Day 16  Day 17  Day 18  Day 19 Day 20 Day 21 Day 22  Day 23