SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO & JULIET

The bard's quintessential love story — retold in an elegantly illustrated volume that will appeal both to aficionados of Shakespeare's play and to readers discovering it for the first time.

The story has been told "many times by many different people in many different languages," notes Michael Rosen. Now the acclaimed author of SHAKESPEARE: HIS WORK AND HIS WORLD presents the Bard's best-loved play — perhaps of all time — in a beautiful picture book for children. Michael Rosen retells ROMEO AND JULIET scene by scene in a simple, lively style that incorporates the most celebrated passages in their original form, while a border on each spread offers act and scene references and a glossary of difficult words. Exquisite illustrations by Jane Ray complete the production, making this an edition to enthrall the eye as well as the ear.

Michael Rosen is an award-winning author and anthologist of books for young readers, including SHAKESPEARE: HIS WORK AND HIS WORLD. He says, "Reading a whole Shakespeare play can be a daunting prospect for many young people. We hit on the idea of using Shakespeare's words, edited down, with a linking script and illustrations."

Jane Ray is an internationally acclaimed illustrator of children's books. She says, "ROMEO AND JULIET is, of course, a story of contrasts — love and hate, youth and old age, life and death — all of which makes for some wonderful visual opportunities. Although it is fashionable to place Shakespearean drama in alternative historical settings, I was never tempted to move it from 16th-century Italy because of the wealth of sumptuous costumes and architecture available to draw from."