TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE

by Marcia--Adapt. & Illus. Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1998

Seven plays--Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet--have been condensed into the comic-strip panels of Williams's other retellings (The Iliad and the Odyssey, 1996, etc.); Shakespeare's words are spouted by the performers, summaries of the plot appear beneath the frames, and Elizabethan-era playgoers heckle and comment from the sides and bottom of every page--e.g., ""Go on! Kiss her."" Some plays take up two or three spreads, but for all their compactness, these condensations are surprisingly clear and faithful. The plays are newly accessible to a contemporary audience; with 40-50 players and members of the audience on every page, there humor in every corner and high drama in most frames. Every play is given its own palette; Macbeth's is appropriately ghostly and spooky, while A Midsummer Night's Dream is suitably sprightly and exhaustively antic. For readers familiar with the plays, the synopses are amusing and the watercolor depictions impressive; for those using this work as an entry to Shakespeare's works, welcome.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0763623237

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1998

Categories: CHILDREN'S