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Shakespeare's Stories for Young Readers
Twelve of Shakespeare's greatest tales come to life in this entertaining collection of short, lively stories specially adapted for young readers. Capturing the vital events and using some of the original wording, the stories serve as a perfect introduction to Shakespeare for preteens and as literate refreshers for older folks.
Fulfilling a request from her own children, author Edith Nesbit turned twelve of the Bard's most famous plays into delightful tales of kings, queens, ghosts, and witches. Filled with tragedy, humor, and moral lessons, the stories--told with wit and grace--include "Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, "and "The Winter's Tale."
Wonderfully transformed by the noted author of children's books, these classics are a great way to start a lifelong interest in the works of Shakespeare.
Fulfilling a request from her own children, author Edith Nesbit turned twelve of the Bard's most famous plays into delightful tales of kings, queens, ghosts, and witches. Filled with tragedy, humor, and moral lessons, the stories--told with wit and grace--include "Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, "and "The Winter's Tale."
Wonderfully transformed by the noted author of children's books, these classics are a great way to start a lifelong interest in the works of Shakespeare.
82 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 5, 2012
60 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
E. Nesbit
1,040 books1,001 followers
Edith Nesbit
(married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 6, 2017
I expected to like this more. I appreciated having condensed stories to introduce my kids to Shakespeare. Some read well, others were quite confusing and felt very rushed.
April 19, 2022
My three-year-old daughter wants me to read her The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream over and over again, and we found Nesbit's retelling to be enjoyable. I appreciate that she did include portions of the original text, and while the content of many of the plays are not quite suitable for a three-year-old, I envision us reading more of them together as my kids get a bit older.
September 21, 2019
In her introduction, Edith Nesbit relates how she tried to introduce Shakespeare to her children, but discovering that the language of his plays (beautiful as though it is) was a barrier between the fantastic tales and her children. Thus, in an effort to amend this, she started to retell the stories for them in her own words, the book at hand representing twelve such retellings (of Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Pericles, The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale).
Ironically, Nesbit's introduction is the best part of the book. It tells a moving story effectively, whereas the rewritings of Shakespeare end up quite the tongue twisters. I started reading this book with my eight-year-old in the hopes of introducing Shakespeare's stories and lay the foundation for an appreciation for the Bard, but at this point, after having finished the chore of reading the last tale on my own (and yes, even I felt it was a chore, but I stubbornly wanted to finish it), I sincerely hope I have not achieve the inverse of my intent. This book may possibly have worked for children in 1900, when Nesbit wrote (though I am not entirely convinced), but it does not really work now. These are not linguistically modified for children; in fact, the language is often convoluted in a manner that makes it difficult to read out loud, with the occasional dialogue plucked directly from Shakespeare (which is a nice touch for the more advanced, adult reader, but honestly gets us right back to the original language barrier, Nesbit's mission statement is to overcome).
The end result is a confused and boring read that in no way does Shakespeare justice, and miserably fails to achieve what it sets out to do.
Ironically, Nesbit's introduction is the best part of the book. It tells a moving story effectively, whereas the rewritings of Shakespeare end up quite the tongue twisters. I started reading this book with my eight-year-old in the hopes of introducing Shakespeare's stories and lay the foundation for an appreciation for the Bard, but at this point, after having finished the chore of reading the last tale on my own (and yes, even I felt it was a chore, but I stubbornly wanted to finish it), I sincerely hope I have not achieve the inverse of my intent. This book may possibly have worked for children in 1900, when Nesbit wrote (though I am not entirely convinced), but it does not really work now. These are not linguistically modified for children; in fact, the language is often convoluted in a manner that makes it difficult to read out loud, with the occasional dialogue plucked directly from Shakespeare (which is a nice touch for the more advanced, adult reader, but honestly gets us right back to the original language barrier, Nesbit's mission statement is to overcome).
The end result is a confused and boring read that in no way does Shakespeare justice, and miserably fails to achieve what it sets out to do.
November 30, 2023
Excellent resource to use in a classroom where students may not yet be prepared for true Shakespearean text. Easy to read. Easy to follow.
January 31, 2011
E. Nesbit has written many children's books. The one I'm most familiar with is The Railway Children. I really like that book and it influenced my decision to purchase this book. In the introduction of Shakespeare's Stories for Young Children, E. Nesbit explains her reasons for writing this book. She explains that her children love Shakespeare's story lines but at the time were too young to enjoy the actual play. So she took some of Shakespeare's most famous plays and summarized them, making it easier for children to understand. Shakespeare's influence is found everywhere and I wanted my children to be familiar with his plays. However Shakespeare didn't write for children and I know mine wouldn't understand the language and would be bored in a matter of pages. E. Nesbit did a great job explaining the stories. My children were able to comprehend the stories with little explanation. Each chapter is a different play and about six pages. She also includes direct quotes from the plays. It's the perfect introduction to Shakespeare for young children.
February 23, 2016
As a preparation to go see Shakespeare's First Folio, which is currently making its rounds to each state as a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, I bought this book to introduce my daughters, ages 8 & 10, to the works of The Bard. My 10 year old adored it. I thought it was well done. E. Nesbit has an eloquent way of conveying the basic essence of the plays without the complications of complex language structures. My daughters were able to follow along rather well, to the live performance because this book introduced them to a basic plot lines and stories. Each play is pretty brief, just a few pages on my e-reader...a great length for children. Further, any awkwardness created because of the desire to include one of the more well-known quotes from Shakespeare's work, is lost on children, and they feel quite empowered at knowing and showing off their Shakespearean knowledge.
March 19, 2016
I love the story of King liar
May 22, 2017
We tiptoed into Shakespeare this school year and this book was the perfect way for the boys and me to do that in our Morning Time, giving us a broad view of his plays.
July 3, 2018
This short book tells twelve of Shakespeare’s plays in an easy to understand way for children. The synopses are just a few pages each, but hit all the major plot points. It’s an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for kids far too young to understand the language in the actual plays. I highly recommend reading Shakespeare’s Stories for Young Readers!
November 30, 2021
It’s easier to understand then unabridged Shakespeare. I wouldn’t call it for young readers though. More like for adults but more wholesome. However after having read it I wondered why Shakespeare is so popular, and I’ve read other simpler versions that make me want to read and understand the original. This isn’t one of them.
June 20, 2020
Loved it
Great way to introduce Shakespeare to young readers very entertaining for the whole family great for nine year old girl
Great way to introduce Shakespeare to young readers very entertaining for the whole family great for nine year old girl
April 18, 2021
Nice little introduction to Shakes that you could read aloud to your kids and keep them mostly entertained.
November 9, 2021
It’s interesting to see all the different stories retold in my kind of way.
February 2, 2016
These stories are simplified enough for young readers, but still not super appealing to young readers.
September 14, 2014
Nino and I really liked this!! Except for King Lear.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews