Romeo and Juliet

Grade 7 Up–A visually engaging format includes clearly delineated acts and scenes as well as skilled use of dark and light to highlight mood and recurring themes. Many of the images are striking, particularly the white-on-black night scenes describing Queen Mab's dream appearance and Juliet's decision to drink poison. Well-drawn characters such as the brash young men, the Nurse, and Friar Lawrence come to life in these panels. This is especially true for Juliet, whose early images of youthful innocence contrast sharply with her distraught face as the story progresses. With the exception of Capulet and Montague, who look more like grandfathers than fathers to such young teens, visual characterizations are accurate. Text for this version comes from an abridgment of the modern English translation found in No Fear Shakespeare (Spark, 2007). Readers will not encounter any of Shakespeare's language or poetry in this adaptation. Even familiar speeches such as O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? are modernized to Oh Romeo, Romeo, why must you be Romeo? A limited number of footnotes explain references to unfamiliar phrases, particularly bawdy humor. Readers interested in graphic-novel versions with excerpts from Shakespeare's original play should try Romeo and Juliet (Barron's, 2005), edited by Philip Page and Marilyn Petit, or Richard Appignanesi's adaptation (Abrams, 2007).–Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
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