A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories: 12 Tales from the world's most famous playwright (Volume 3) (World Full of..., 3) Hardcover – Picture Book, September 6, 2018

As a retired English professor, I am always looking for ways to share good age-appropriate literature with my grandchildren. This Shakespeare collection is impressive. The content, illustrations, and efforts to “be true” to the Bard are all reasons to get this book.

We love this book. I’ve read through it to my kids, and they pore over it on their own time. A great primer. This fall, it led to us attending Macbeth as a family. Bought a second copy as a gift. Recommend!

This book is such a blessing for anyone looking for an abridged and illustrated edition of popular Shakespeare stories. The stories are very concise yet, not too dumbed down or simplified like so many other abridged versions for children, hence a good eloquent writing style is maintained throughout which I very much appreciate.I read the abridged version of Shakespeare by E.Nesbit as a child and even though that is a very good and probably the best abridged version of Shakespeare available, when I read it at 9 yrs of age, I really longed for more illustrations to help me catch the mood and imagine the premise of each story better. I so wish I had this illustrated version to read at that age, I would have thoroughly enjoyed this book as a child.The illustrations are in a particular folkish style (don't know if that is an apt word to describe it), that does catch the eye as being unique after seeing the disneyish type of illustrations time and again in contemporary children's books. The more important point is, the tales are adorned by illustrations generously which would be a very helpful feature for elementary school age children.Overall, a very good illustrated and abridged Shakespeare edition for children. Highly recommend for upper elementary and middle school age (8-13 yrs).

Our 7-year-old daughter loves reading. We wanted to introduce her to classics, such as Shakespeare. The way that the book summarizes and simply Shakespeare for young readers is just perfect. The introduction to the main characters before each story and the beautiful visuals also helps the young reader comprehend the stories. Our daughter loves it and already read it twice.

I bought to read to my kids for homeschool lesson in literature (ages 4,5 and 11). My younger were interested for about 5 minutes (I had to keep explaining what they meant) but to my surprise my 11 year old affluent reader LOVED the stories. I read her Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet and she asked to take the book to read more herself.She loves the “explanation of cast” at the beginning of each story. Helps her follow along in the storythe book is very well written, short enough to engage the reader (well older reader) but short enough to be understandable! She loves it so much she asked for the full length version.

My 13 y/o son read the book within a week, that means is approved for even teens. Now we're watching short films in YouTube and he goes along with the book making sure is covering the story well.

My older son and I enjoy reading this together -- he pointedly prefers the "murder stories" over the "love stories" -- and I keep a spare copy in my gift stash for birthday parties that sneak up on me. The stories are well adapted to prose and very approachable for reading together. The illustrations are attractive but not overly girly, making this gift well-suited for any gender. Just point out the murder stories to any kids who are dubious.

I should clarify however...I have not personally read through it. My 11 year old son has, however and greatly enjoyed it. He was so intrigued by each story he read through the entire book within a day or so. (He's a highly motivated reader--it's not a short book.) He then enjoyed reading a few plays to his younger sister. I know as her reading skills increase, she'll be picking up the book too. I can say I like the quality and feel of the book and the fact it puts Shakespeare stories into the hands of children before they develop the ability to understand the original language.