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Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare!
The author of Tales from Shakespeare presents the stories of seven Shakespeare plays by including actual dialogue in the illustrations, summarizing the plots in picture captions, and showing the comments and actions of audience members on the sides and bottom of the pages.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Williams
77 books50 followersMarcia Williams began to develop her distinctive comic-book style at an early age: "When I was about ten and wrote home to my family from boarding school," she says, "I never wrote normal letters. I tried to tell my family about what I was doing in a way that was more fun. Also, my parents didn't let me read comic books, so I decided to create my own."
This former nursery school teacher blends her storytelling skills and humorous illustrations with well-known figures and stories from literature. Her unique style has produced such vivid works and action-packed books as GOD AND HIS CREATIONS: TALES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. "Working on the Old Testament was a joy," Marcia Williams says. "The tales are so rich, it is always possible to find something new within them. Yet, at the same time, they have all the comfort of the familiar." The artist also found pleasure in creating CHARLES DICKENS AND FRIENDS, which presents five retellings of classic Dickens tales. Of her inspiration for this book, she tells of a teacher she once had "who was extremely fierce and angry . . . except when she read the stories of Charles Dickens aloud. Through her, all his characters lived, and I was transported to their Victorian world. I hope that readers will also enter the wonderful world of Charles Dickens through this book."
With BRAVO, MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE! and TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE Marcia Williams introduces young readers to the world of William Shakespeare's plays. Another classic she has made much more accessible to children--and more appreciated by them--is THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY. "My mother read me classics, but until I got older I never found them interesting," she says. "If I could make these stories more accessible, I realized, kids wouldn't have to wait until they were grown-up to appreciate them."
Marcia Williams traveled extensively as a child and was educated in Sussex, England, and Switzerland. During her varied career she has worked as an interior designer and has assisted cartoon artist and designer Gerald Scarfe in making papier-mâché and cloth sculptures.
This former nursery school teacher blends her storytelling skills and humorous illustrations with well-known figures and stories from literature. Her unique style has produced such vivid works and action-packed books as GOD AND HIS CREATIONS: TALES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. "Working on the Old Testament was a joy," Marcia Williams says. "The tales are so rich, it is always possible to find something new within them. Yet, at the same time, they have all the comfort of the familiar." The artist also found pleasure in creating CHARLES DICKENS AND FRIENDS, which presents five retellings of classic Dickens tales. Of her inspiration for this book, she tells of a teacher she once had "who was extremely fierce and angry . . . except when she read the stories of Charles Dickens aloud. Through her, all his characters lived, and I was transported to their Victorian world. I hope that readers will also enter the wonderful world of Charles Dickens through this book."
With BRAVO, MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE! and TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE Marcia Williams introduces young readers to the world of William Shakespeare's plays. Another classic she has made much more accessible to children--and more appreciated by them--is THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY. "My mother read me classics, but until I got older I never found them interesting," she says. "If I could make these stories more accessible, I realized, kids wouldn't have to wait until they were grown-up to appreciate them."
Marcia Williams traveled extensively as a child and was educated in Sussex, England, and Switzerland. During her varied career she has worked as an interior designer and has assisted cartoon artist and designer Gerald Scarfe in making papier-mâché and cloth sculptures.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 18, 2014
Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare! takes the reader through seven of Shakespeare's not-so-famous plays in a comic strip, and shows the plays in a child-friendly and comical way that many of us may not have seen before.
There were good things and bad things about this book. I'm currently studying a lot of Shakespeare so looked to this to break down the storylines a bit more and basically just give me a simplified version of Shakespeare. Seeing as this is a children's book you'd think it would be quite easy to follow, right? Wrong. I would only recommend this to people who already had some existing knowledge of these plays. There were too many characters to remember who they all were in such a short adaption. This was especially true in The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing, which I will have to re-read when I have a more extensive knowledge of those plays, because I didn't follow them at all.
I was pleased when reading As You Like It to see that the more minor characters (like Phoebe, Silvius, Touchstone and Audrey) were included, because in so many adaptions (especially those ones for kids) it only focusses on the main two couples (Rosalind and Orlando and Celia and Oliver). There wasn't as much inclusion as there is in the play (for instance Corin was not mentioned at all) but I understand that if the author did include all the details, I'd still be reading this book. I did find it sort of strange how this four page adaption of the play spent way too long demonstrating how sad Rosalind was at the beginning, and didn't even mention how 'Ganymede' pretended to be Rosalind for Orlando, which, I think, is a key part of the story.
The illustrations in this book could have been a lot better. I found that even the people who are supposed to be beautiful were portrayed as slightly disfigured characters who were never the same in two drawings. Having said that, I enjoyed seeing the story interpreted in pictures and found the spectators on the outer parts of the pages funny and thought the way the book was displayed as if it was the Globe Theatre was charming.
I would recommend this to people looking to learn about Shakespeare, preferably if they already had a basic knowledge of the plays. (P.S. I seemed to have demonstrated my ability to ramble on and on in this review - I wouldn't be surprised if this review was actually longer than the book itself!)
There were good things and bad things about this book. I'm currently studying a lot of Shakespeare so looked to this to break down the storylines a bit more and basically just give me a simplified version of Shakespeare. Seeing as this is a children's book you'd think it would be quite easy to follow, right? Wrong. I would only recommend this to people who already had some existing knowledge of these plays. There were too many characters to remember who they all were in such a short adaption. This was especially true in The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing, which I will have to re-read when I have a more extensive knowledge of those plays, because I didn't follow them at all.
I was pleased when reading As You Like It to see that the more minor characters (like Phoebe, Silvius, Touchstone and Audrey) were included, because in so many adaptions (especially those ones for kids) it only focusses on the main two couples (Rosalind and Orlando and Celia and Oliver). There wasn't as much inclusion as there is in the play (for instance Corin was not mentioned at all) but I understand that if the author did include all the details, I'd still be reading this book. I did find it sort of strange how this four page adaption of the play spent way too long demonstrating how sad Rosalind was at the beginning, and didn't even mention how 'Ganymede' pretended to be Rosalind for Orlando, which, I think, is a key part of the story.
The illustrations in this book could have been a lot better. I found that even the people who are supposed to be beautiful were portrayed as slightly disfigured characters who were never the same in two drawings. Having said that, I enjoyed seeing the story interpreted in pictures and found the spectators on the outer parts of the pages funny and thought the way the book was displayed as if it was the Globe Theatre was charming.
I would recommend this to people looking to learn about Shakespeare, preferably if they already had a basic knowledge of the plays. (P.S. I seemed to have demonstrated my ability to ramble on and on in this review - I wouldn't be surprised if this review was actually longer than the book itself!)
April 11, 2014
I've been in love with this book since the age of 7, when I plucked it off the rolly shelves the spring of my first grade year at the Book Fair (the greatest thing to happen to public schools ever).
When you're 7, Shakespeare makes as much sense as wearing socks in the bathtub but I like to think of this as the gateway drug into my full blown obsession with the Bard. It's full of excellent pictures (I'm a sucker for humorous doodles) and is guaranteed to make a bibliophile out of any kid who reads it.
And believe me, when they're sitting in Old English Lit as a sophomore in college, they're going to remember a purple lipped (& eared!) Oberon, and it will all come flooding back to them. Just think, you could be really helping someone out down the road, especially if they forgot to do the reading.
When you're 7, Shakespeare makes as much sense as wearing socks in the bathtub but I like to think of this as the gateway drug into my full blown obsession with the Bard. It's full of excellent pictures (I'm a sucker for humorous doodles) and is guaranteed to make a bibliophile out of any kid who reads it.
And believe me, when they're sitting in Old English Lit as a sophomore in college, they're going to remember a purple lipped (& eared!) Oberon, and it will all come flooding back to them. Just think, you could be really helping someone out down the road, especially if they forgot to do the reading.
April 30, 2015
I got this book out for my arty dyslexic graphic novel reading son who was doing Shakespeare with a youth theatre group. He rejected it out of hand saying he didn't like the colours. I like the colours! I find the comic strip format very challenging but I enjoy Marcia Williams' work and felt I understood the plays a little better for reading this. The barracking audence round the edges is quite fun and reminiscent of medieval glosses.
January 8, 2016
Absolutely delightful how Marcia Williams has made an adaptation totally into her own thing. If I'd heard/known of this earlier, I'd have given this to all my younger siblings and cousins as they were growing up.
Actually, no, I'll just keep them (she has adapted quite a few classical works, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales!) for myself.
You'd want to, too.
Actually, no, I'll just keep them (she has adapted quite a few classical works, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales!) for myself.
You'd want to, too.
May 4, 2010
This is really a comic book packaged as a kid's picture book. It adapts several of Shakespeare's plays, and not very well. For Shakespeareans, students of adaptation, and those who do not know better.
January 24, 2011
Lydia loves this book, I think it's slightly annoying to read. The pages are a little too busy with words and 10 pictures per page to show the progression of the scene. At any rate, I'm happy that Lydia is familiar with so many Shakespearean plays because of this book.
June 21, 2014
Read this book and got to understand Shakespeare, did not know about Cordelia. Anthony and Cleopatra had 4 children, she was the last of the Ptolemies. One gets the whole feel of each play in this magnificent/brilliant book.
February 10, 2016
I enjoyed this. It included my favourite Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, along with some other fun ones as well as a couple of tragedies. A lot of overlap between the plays and plots, which interested me even more as there were a couple included here that I wasn't very familiar with.
September 22, 2009
My kids love Shakespeare. They did not like this and neither did I. This was not anything that will inspire them to love Shakespeare. The stories were confusing and the pictures distracting.
November 3, 2012
This very humorous. The kids had a real hoot listening to it and acting some out. I love being able to introduce them to Shakespeare. It's one I would like to own.
December 24, 2012
Cute. Comic-booky layout. Might have kids reading it for a while, but it really takes something away from all these plays. Seems a bit busy to get anything out of them for real.
August 4, 2013
Very hard to follow with format and incredibly busy pages. Would be enjoyable for those who enjoy graphic novels.
March 10, 2014
This book grabs your attention with lots of inventive, detailed drawings and actual words from Shakespeare.
August 27, 2014
Very busy pages but the stories were engaging.
August 17, 2017
Shakespeare is by no means easy to read. At least with this book, I was able to access some of his works. It still is not straightforward to read though.
December 13, 2017
Another little gem.
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September 1, 2019A good book to introduce to William Shakespeares stories. The book is full of beautiful illustrations that will hopefully engage the children to learn about Shakespeares work.
March 28, 2022
Cute book, good synopsis of the plays. The illustrations are good but too small. Every page is VERY BUSY.
September 7, 2023
Very fun sampling of Shakespeare works for kids.
November 24, 2019
Really fun illustrations and a great take on Shakespeare's classics
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews