ROMEO AND JULIET
adapted by Margaret Early & illustrated by Margaret Early
The warring families, gang fighting, teen passion, and tragic denouement will be too daunting for the conventional picture- book audience; instead, Early (Robin Hood, 1996, etc.) casts the tale of the star-crossed lovers into occasionally lackluster prose accessible to middle-school children with no firsthand knowledge of the story. Every full-page illustration faces a bordered, dense page of text; the paintings have a sculpted and decorative effect: Every figure each lives in an isolated space, even when touching another. Beautiful patterned borders, street scenes, and architectural details are recognizable from the actual city of Verona and some well-known Renaissance paintings. (Picture book. 9-12)