All the World's a Stage

by Rebecca Piatt Davidson, Anita Lobel (Illustrator)

"This is young William,
His mind all ablaze,
Who stays up all night
Writing poems and plays.
And this is a book, unforgettable and wise, that applauds inspiration, creation, story, and the world and works of William Shakespeare.

Illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Anita Lobel, "All the World's a Stage pays tribute to the act of turning words into art.

Genres: Picture Books, Shakespeare, Childrens, Poetry

32 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than anticipated for this mom who thought that Shakespeare could not possibly be a great idea for a 2 and 3 year old. Illustrations are appealing and the text is well paced for a young audience.

-Mom

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta love a William Shakespeare picture book! Introduces names and character of several of his plays in a repeating rhyme.

[Natalie Brockmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all the world's a stage. I think the illustrations are great as well as it's a light and simplistic take on an often daunting task of understanding Shakespeare.
This could be a great read aloud story for children in grades third through fifth. This is a poem book with a little section of each page dedicated to a certain Shakespeare play and the other section is a repetition of all the pages previously. The repetition aspect shows a way that the children could enjoy getting involved in the story by trying to remember each of the things on the pages before and saying them all aloud together. For example "Who amuse the muse, Who sings to the boy, who stays up all night writing poems and plays" Is on every page after the first one, and so the children could remember these little phrases and say them aloud together.
Additionally, I feel that elementary school is probably too young to actually read Shakespeare, however, I would definitely introduce this book when having a famous author unit. Every student could be assigned to a certain author that has been remembered throughout time (Shakespeare definitely meets this qualification). This book would be an incredible resource because it's entertaining as well as informative. Each page gives a little insight into what each of his famous plays are about. Also, it's always useful to have different forms of media to learn about the same topic, because I'm sure there are endless books about Shakespeare's plays; however, how many poems do you see about them? For this reason, I would encourage students to read this and would definitely have them use this as a resource.
I think it's appropriate for upper elementary school because it contains some language that isn't as hard to understand as Shakespeare but they are eluding to his language use definitely. So it could take some re-reading for even older elementary students to decode what all these words mean. That being said, I think it would be good for these students to push their limits and stretch their normal vocabularies.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal response: This is a great little poetry book that simplifies Shakespeare's most popular plays. The way the author connects the short poems together to form one long story is very creative!

Purpose: Great introduction to Shakespeare's plays and characters. This is presented in such a fun and intriguing way with wonderful snapshot illustrations with lots of color. This is also a good starting poetry book for children because it is fun and the illustrations are bright and colorful. For curricular purposes this is a great poetry book to look at rhyme and poetry structure. The vocabulary in this book is also really enriching. Some examples would be "disguises, Muse, maiden, saucy." It also has actual quotes from Shakespeare underneath the picture representing that play.

[Lilac Mohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun picture book to read after the kids had already become familiar with some of Shakespeare's works (by reading "Shakespeare's Stories for Young Readers", a number of illustrated retellings, and watching BBC Animated Shakespeare series). Each page has a character from a play, so the kids were very excited to see the ones they were familiar with ("We know this one!").

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome and creative young children's book introducing to Shakespeare. Breakdown of his plays with a "glossary" including the cast of characters of the plays discussed in the storyline. Just really ingenious. Illustrations complimented the writing well.

[Ling Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about William Shakespeare. It is written in a poem form.

[Cheryl Kays · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informational book that provides colorful illustrations to describe the world created by William Shakespeare.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the World’s Stage is a cumulative tale and a fun read aloud, that introduces young readers to William Shakespeare and some of his famous works.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

I know, I know. It's a children's book. If I'd known this one was out there when my kids were into picture books, I probably would've bought this one. Think of Silly Sally meets. . . . Shakespeare.

[Michelle Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using a "House that Jack Built" format, we take a quick trip through Shakespeare's plays. It was an interesting way to tie them together and the illustrations were colorful.