A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Shakespeare Collection)

Clare Bevan, Ross Collins

ISBN 10: 0750029811 / ISBN 13: 9780750029810

Published by Wayland 20/07/2000, 2000

This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. . Seller Inventory # 7719-9780750029810

Synopsis:

This collection aims to make the best of Shakspearean theatre accessible to a younger audience. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a lively tale about love and what happens when the fairy world and the mortal world collide.

From School Library Journal: Grade 3-6-These prose adaptations attempt to make the Bard's work accessible to a young audience. They are serviceable, if uninspired, renditions that convey the overall plotlines. While the major pieces of each story are all here, this Cliff's Notes approach leads one to realize how flat the plays are when the poetry is missing. For instance, when the witches meet Macbeth, the simple yet powerful greeting of "Hail, Thane," is replaced with the prosaic "Good evening, Lord of Glamis." In so doing, the power and true spirit of the text are lost, and, with them, the opportunity to introduce young readers to a more interesting level of speech. The characters are all here, but because of the brevity and formulaic nature of the writing, there is little opportunity for their development; consequently some figures are merely introduced with no background information, and the relationships between the personages are unclear. The watercolor illustrations, a balance of black and white and color, vary from small insets to full-page paintings, appropriately sporting cartoon figures for Midsummer and a more realistic style for Hamlet. At times there is little distinction between some of the figures, but the drawings are clear and elucidate the plots. Geared to a younger and less-sophisticated audience than either Marchette Chute's Stories from Shakespeare (World, 1956; o.p.) or Charles and Mary Lamb's classic Tales from Shakespeare (Puffin, 1995), these titles-particularly Midsummer-can serve as basic introductions to the playwright's work. However, libraries would be wiser to purchase individual titles, such as Bruce Coville's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (Dial, 1999), a modern-day retelling that still retains the flavor of Shakespeare's poetic genius.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Shakespeare ...
Publisher: Wayland 20/07/2000
Publication Date: 2000
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good