Wednesday

Introducing Shakespeare



I do a literature based approach with my home school. Shakespeare was on the top of the list of literature I wanted to expose my children to.

Normally I don't choose abridged books; but early on I bought Edith Nesbit's, Stories From Shakespeare, and Lamb's, Tales From Shakespeare. Both books are well written, though sometimes Lamb's version reads a bit cumbersome.

About a year ago I discovered a series of picture books by Bruce Coville that retell some of Shakespeare's plays. They are absolutely wonderful. -They are beautiful picture books but they are not aimed at young children. My tween daughter adores them.

I have found that by using one or the other of these three authors before we see one of Shakespeare's plays enables my younger children to enjoy the play more. My older children have moved onto Shakespeare's original works with no difficulty.

In fact the oldest two have been reading Hamlet this past 6 weeks. They have been enjoying how funny Shakespeare is- even in his tragedies.


This was not a paid endorsement, I'm just opinionated.

2 comments:

  1. Im sorry to hear that your little one is so sick:( If Im mistaken or way out of line. I apologize. But, have you ever heard of MACS?

    http://www.makeachildsmile.org/featured_kids_summary.shtml

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kristi, You're not out of line. I'd never heard of that organization before- thanks.

    ReplyDelete