Will's Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk - Softcover

Sutcliffe, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580896391 ISBN 13: 9781580896399

Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2018

Synopsis

A celebration of the words, phrases, and idioms that Shakespeare invented and the contributions he made to the modern-day English lexicon.

The Bard of Avon is responsible for such familiar phrases as "what's done is done" and "too much of a good thing." He even helped turn "household words" into household words. As readers will discover, "the long and the short of it" is this: Will changed the English language forever. Will's words pop up all over the place!

About this title

About the Author:

Jane Sutcliffe is the author of Leonardo’s Monster (Pelican, 2010) and The Attack on Pearl Harbor (Capstone, 2006), as well as nearly two dozen biographies in the History Maker Bios series and the On My Own Biography series from Lerner. She lives in Tolland, Connecticut.

John Shelley grew up near Shakespeare's birthplace at Stratford-upon-Avon. He has illustrated more than forty children's books, including Stone Giant: Michelangelo's David and How He Came to Be by Jane Sutcliffe and Family Reminders by Julie Danneberg.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Dear Reader: 
We have to talk. I have failed you. I set out to write a book about the Globe Theatre and its great storyteller, William Shakespeare. About how the man was an absolute genius with words and wove those words into the most brilliant and moving plays ever written 
But that’s just the trouble. You see, I wanted to tell you the story in my own words. But Will Shakespeare’s words are there, too, popping up all over the place. 
It’s not my fault. Really. Will’s words are everywhere. They’re bumping into our words all the time, and we don’t even know it. So how could I help it, for goodness’ sake?
There, you see what I mean? Those are Will’s words, all mixed in with mine. People just love his plays, and they’ve kept on loving them for hundreds of years-hundreds! And the more they love his plays, the more they use his words. Now his words and sayings are everywhere, ending up in the stuff we say and write every day. I couldn’t avoid them if I tried—and I did try. 
Well, I suppose what’s done is done. 
Oh. Right. Maybe I’ll just stop now and let you read the book.
Yours truly, 
The Author

About this edition

• Publisher: Charlesbridge
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1580896391
• ISBN 13: 9781580896399
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Shelley John