At the heart of any great work of literature is a story. William
Shakespeare's plays are no exception. They tell the stories of kings
and queens, of ghosts and witches, of romance and passion. But to get
to the stories at the heart of the Bard's plays, the reader must first
work through Shakespeare's language, a task often too demanding for
younger readers (and for many adults). This new paperback edition
brings ten of Shakespeare's greatest plays to life. E. Nesbit, the
classic British children's author, shakes off the burdensome complexity
of Shakespeare's language and tells the stories at the core of the
plays with a generous sprinkle of wit and humor. Her graceful, vivid
retellings, written in highly accessible and lucid prose, are the
perfect introduction to Shakespeare's work. All of these major works
are included in this anthology: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth,
Othello, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, As You Like
It, The Winter's Tale, and Twelfth Night. The text is illustrated with
dramatic black-and-white photographs from contemporary productions of
the plays by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Stratford Festival
(Ontario, Canada), and the Folger Library's Shakespeare Theater. Also
included is an afterword by Peter Hunt, a leading scholar of children's
literature. These retellings of the classic tales of one of the world's
greatest playwrights remind us that it is never too early for
Shakespeare.