William Shakespeare and his stories not only live on, they are becoming more and more accessible to people of all ages and ability.
Classic Comics has issued several Shakespeare works in a graphic format. Best of all, these graphic novels come in three different versions. The Lower School has the “plain text” version, which tells each story in an easy to understand format. The “quick text” version is Shakespeare simplified, and then there's the self-explanatory “original text." It made my day when a third-grader came in to talk to me about Macbeth!
Author Bruce Coville has also made Shakespeare more accessible to young students with his series of Shakespeare picture books. In these he skillfully re-tells the essence of the plays within the confines of a 32-page picture book. These don’t have many original quotes, but the accompanying art work is really nice.
For older students and adults there is the “No Fear Shakespeare” series. These have the original text on one page with a modern language translation on the facing page, a great way to read the plays if you don’t have time to puzzle out the scenes. And then there are the novels: authors Gary Blackwood (Shakespeare’s Scribe, Shakespeare’s Spy), Susan Cooper (King of Shadows), Mary Pope Osborne (Stage Fright on a Summer’s Night), and many others have set titles against the background of Shakespeare and his troupe of players.
In addition, this past year has seen Shakespeare return with a vengeance on the young adult scene. Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey is a spin on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This novel, set in New Zealand, is about a boarding student who becomes involved with fairies who inhabited New Zealand before humans. Come Fall by A.C.E. Bauer features the changeling from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the setting of a modern day school. The characters Puck, Titania and Oberon all play a part in this new novel. Lastly, Illyria by Elizabeth Hand echoes Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in a novel about two cousins separated by different schools. Though the romance in this story is of a different nature than what Shakespeare wrote, his original play shines through.
Long live The Bard!
