Shakespeare Stories
By skillfully weaving his own prose with Shakespeare's language, Leon Garfield has refashioned twelve of the Elizabethan playwright's most memorable dramas into stories, capturing all the richness of the characters, plot, mood, and setting. This format will delight both those who know the great dramatist's works and those who are new to them. Michael Foreman's dramatic color illustrations and varied black-and-white line drawings are the perfect complement to this celebration of Shakespeare's...
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By skillfully weaving his own prose with Shakespeare's language, Leon Garfield has refashioned twelve of the Elizabethan playwright's most memorable dramas into stories, capturing all the richness of the characters, plot, mood, and setting. This format will delight both those who know the great dramatist's works and those who are new to them. Michael Foreman's dramatic color illustrations and varied black-and-white line drawings are the perfect complement to this celebration of Shakespeare's genius."Masterly."
Twelfth Night9King Lear29The Tempest51The Merchant of Venice75The Taming of the Shrew101King Richard the Second121King Henry IV. Part One139Hamlet169Romeo and Juliet205Othello223A Midsummer Night's Dream253Macbeth271
\ From the Publisher"Masterly." The New York Times\ \ \ \ \ Children's Literature\ - Kathleen Karr\ The late Leon Garfield could tell a great story, and his recap of Shakespeare's most accessible plays is done with his trademark intelligence, verve, and humor. The stories stand on their own, and as an introduction to the plays themselves go far toward sorting out plot and character intricacies, allowing the young reader to reach straight for the poetry of the originals. Foreman's illustrations are also very fine, touching the surreal, the dramatic, and the humorous as required.\ \ \ School Library JournalGr 5 Up The value of this book will depend upon the intended use. From the deep orange endpapers, through generous margins and clear print, to the multitude of evocative illustrations, the volume is a delight. Foreman's intense watercolors and lively ink-wash illustrations go far to help create the moods of the stories. The storytelling is unevenGarfield is able to evoke the heartbreak of King Lear but fails to convey the crazy humor of Twelfth Night but it is generally competent enough. However, Garfield's visual descriptions are so specific and so lavish; his line interpretations so absolute that he almost guarantees that any given production will seem inadequate after such a buildup! Libraries that have Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare (Macmillan, 1963; o.p.) or Chute's Stories from Shakespeare (World, 1956; o.p.) probably don't need to add this luxury item. Garfield covers only 12 of the best-known plays, while the Lambs tell 20 tales and Chute leads the pack with 36. While Garfield's style is more accessible to modern readers and covers the plays more completely than the evasive Victorianisms of the Lambs, he must take a back seat when compared with the lucid straightforward prose in Chute's book. Sally T. Margolis, Town and Country Day School, Kensington, Md.\ \
