The Usborne Complete Shakespeare

The challenge was to find a re-telling of stories from Shakespeare which would be readable by an 8 year old grandson whose class is taking part in a festival presentation of As You Like It. We chose this one from the choice on this site and as we have Prime it arrived the next day. His reaction was instant- couldn't take his nose out of it and took it to bed. So that speaks for its accessibility and value for someone of that age and reading level. For me I enjoyed the way it is illustrated at the start of the chapter. The re-telling is good and there are quotes from the text which enhance and don't detract from the narrative. The author is given as Anna Milbourne but there are several authors so a nice variety of style here. You would not insult a secondary-age child by giving him or her a copy, far from it, and I wouldn't mind a copy on my own shelf at home. Ideally you could team this up with the (rather pricey but inspired) pop-up book advertised on Amazon if you wanted a fuller introduction to Shakespeare and his audience.

I am still shocked by the Shakespeare plays I had to study and write essays on at GCSE. Somehow I got two Bs as I really did not understand the texts at all.So what a joy to revisit this train wreck in my life and find this book translates it all into modern English. For the first time I can feel the charm of the plots as I read Romeo and Juliet condensed into an 18 page novella! I look forward to going through A Midsummer Night's Dream next as that was a house play I was involved in. Now I will know the plays in sufficient depth that any snobby reference to a Shakespeare plot will instantly be understandable and the elitist joke will not be lost on me anymore. If you are still scarred by studying these plays and harbour a secret hatred of even your own language as a result I urge you to get this book. It heals the wounds very effectively. And at just thirteen pounds for a book of great length, quality, insight and importance (and hardbound) I really highly recommend it!A typo (or erratum) on page 56. I'm sure of it:"The poison flooded through him..." Not though him as stated. Yes?

Lovely book, beautifully illustrated. We got this book for our 10 year old: we were off to see a production of A Winter's Tale with him and wanted him to know the plot beforehand. He was really chuffed with it and has read several other play synopses already. Unlike all of the other children's compilation Shakespeares only cover the really famous plays, this includes everything. We have previously bought some of the individual Usborne Shakespeares (again only the most well-known plays are available) and these have the same text as far as we can tell but are more heavily illustrated and thus more suited to slightly younger children.

My son was studying Shakespeare at school year 7, my knowledge was lacking but this book is great. The illustrations helped with art, the brief overview of each play is just what was needed for several bits of homework. It’s firmly pride of place in the book case ready for the next project.

Great introduction to Shakespeare for any age and handy as a quick swotting tool for this jobbing actor.