All the World's a Stage - Hardcover

Davidson, Rebecca Piatt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060296267 ISBN 13: 9780060296261

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003

Synopsis

This is young William,
His mind all ablaze,
Who stays up all night
Writing poems and plays.

And this is a book, unforgettable and wise, that applauds inspiration, creation, story, and the world and works of William Shakespeare.

Illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Anita Lobel, All the World's a Stage pays tribute to the act of turning words into art.

About this title

About the Authors

Rebecca Piatt Davidson appeared in a production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest when she was in the fifth grade and has been fascinated by Shakespeare's works ever since. The author taught English literature at the university level for many years. She loves poetry and has been writing poems since she was eight, but this is her first book for children.

Rebecca Piatt Davidson lives with her family in Mesa, Arizona.

Anita Lobel's name is synonymous with the best in children's literature. She is the creator of such classics as Alison's Zinnia and Away from Home, and she received a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in On Market Street. She is the creator of two books about her cat, Nini, One Lighthouse, One Moon (a New York Times Best Illustrated Book), and Nini Here and There. Her childhood memoir, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Anita Lobel lives in New York City.

Reviews

Grade 3-7-A picture-book tribute to the Bard and nine of his well-known plays. Written in the style of "The House That Jack Built," the cumulative poem brings to life characters ranging from the long-lost twins in The Comedy of Errors to the star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet. Each set of two rhyming couplets captures the essence of the plot, accompanied by the actual quote to which it refers. For example, shrewish Kate is described as "saucy and smart," while the caption on the facing illustration is her telling line, "I see a woman may be made a fool if she had not a spirit to resist." After the main characters of each play have been introduced, they continue to appear in the successive illustrations, finally taking a bow at the end of the tale as Will utters his famous line, "All the world's a stage-." Read aloud, this is a clever introduction to Shakespeare's varied characters, and Lobel's beautifully detailed watercolor and white-gouache paintings breathe life into both the invented personages and the world of the Elizabethan theatre itself. In fact, these stunning illustrations are the highlight of the book. Rich in precise detail, they give endless visual information on the times. The text itself, however, is somewhat problematic. The verses are so specific that only those familiar with the plays will understand all the references, and the rhythm of some of the verses is a bit forced. Still, the rhymes are pleasant and clever, and the fine illustrations will capture viewers' attention.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

K-Gr. 3. This well-illustrated picture book introduces nine Shakespearean plays. The framework is a cumulative verse: "This is young William, / His mind all ablaze / Who stays up all night / Writing poems and plays." Accompanied by his muse, a young Queen Elizabeth look-alike, he writes while characters from his plays appear in the background. All this occurs on the left-hand pages. On the right, scenes from nine plays illustrate lines, such as "To be, or not to be; that is the question." Children who don't know the plays may be bemused by the text, but they will find plenty to entertain them in the watercolor-and-gouache paintings, which teem with color, action, and detail. The closing pages include brief introductions to Shakespeare and the plays, with characters identified in a key to small representations of the earlier illustrations. For larger libraries. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060296267
• ISBN 13: 9780060296261
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Lobel Anita
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32