Shakespeare's Stories

Shakespeare can always be difficult to tackle, for anyone, with its lilting and lyrical language, old fashioned terminology and intricate concepts, stories and characters, so for children it’s understandable that it can be seen as a bit advanced or over facing.

Which is why books like these are so brilliant. It brings the delightful works of Shakespeare to a new audience, disseminating it to a younger reader, in terms and stories that are easy to understand.

It was brilliant at storytelling some of these fantastic plays, in short, concise, easy to digest chapters that were both entertaining and fun to read. The illustrations were a great accompaniment to the text, and I found the original Shakespeare plays were surmised greatly in their dedicated chapters. Plenty of great plays were included here, such as Othello, The Tempest, Much Ado about Nothing, a Comedy of Errors and of course, Romeo and Juliet just to name a few.

This book is a definite recommend for all the younger readers out there, to expose them to some of Shakespeare’s greatest works.

This beautifully illustrated compendium brings the Bard's timeless tales to life for a younger generation, with wit and panache.

This is a wonderful collection of Shakespeare’s stories, all simplified and each story has illustrations and beautiful artwork! Honestly such a great read for kids or anyone who loves Shakespeare. Includes great adaptations of the original stories as well as being more accessible for younger readers. includes beautiful artwork done by aware-winning illustrator Khoa Le that will just bring a smile to your face.

Stories include:

• Antony and Cleopatra
• As You Like It
• Comedy of Errors
• Hamlet
• King Lear
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Macbeth
• The Merchant of Venice
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Othello
• Romeo and Juliet
• The Tempest
• The Winter's Tale
• Twelfth Night

*Thanks Netgalley and Arcturus Publishing for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thanks to Arcturus Publishing and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I was a child I really wanted to learn more about Shakespeare. My Primary school teacher had a poster up on the wall that gave brief details about each play and I found the pictures and descriptions fascinating. Cracking open one of the plays at the library, however, baffled me completely and formal study at Secondary school did little to endear me to Shakespeare. I guess what I am trying to say in a rather long-winded way is that I wish I’d had a book like this.

If I had to sum it up in a nutshell I’d say it’s a gorgeously illustrated, child-appropriate, summary of some of Shakespeare’s best-known stories, enough to learn about the key events and characters and inspire a young person to learn more. The book covers a nice range of tragedies and comedies including Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth amongst others. Books aimed at children often try to sanitise some of the more difficult stories, but I liked how these were included. Beautiful artwork and a lovely collection that would make a great gift.

It can be hard to get kids to enjoy the classics, especially harder ones like Shakespeare. The language and length are usually a turnoff, who wants to read what you can't understand? This is why I was so happy to receive this book. Not only has the language been changed to modern-day, but the length of the plays/stories is changed to something much more manageable. The important details are still all there, albeit some are changed to be more PC-friendly for younger readers, so you don't miss out on the story itself.

No matter what you like, there's sure to be a story adaptation in here for you. It's a good mix of the different tones of Shakespeare to keep you entertained if you want to gobble it up in one sitting or break it down by story. Since it's easily separated you can even skip over stories that don't interest you.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Samantha Newman and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book. I am leaving a voluntary honest review.

I am glad that I found this book. There are few reasons why I like this book, and recommend to little readers and adults.
First of all, the stories' simplicity in writing. Personally, I'm not a fan of Shakespeare's work because of the complication in comprehending his writing, and old fashioned vocabularies(somehow, I managed to pass my literature classes ).
However,  this book was helpful for me to recall the stories ' events.  The stories are summarized and retold in the simple language for children to comprehend. 
Next, is the illustration.  The bright, vintage styled illustrations reflect interesting as his stories.
Lastly,  I love how the author gives a fair warning about the violence that the stories contain, and how some readers may feel uncomfortable. Of course,  Shakespeare's plays are meant for adult audience. However,  since this book is aimed for the children,  they have done their best to avoid  pieces of violent scenes (but not all) , and still gives a warning that it may make some readers feel uncomfortable. 

Overall, it is a good read. I would recommend this easy -to -read version to children who wanted to try reading Shakespeare's work. I would also recommend to adults who'd like to refresh (what they've read) their memory , and for those who'd like to have a quick read for reference.