Shakespeare for kids

[lavenderhoney]

My dc love the plays of Shakespeare which I tell from memory (!) but I would like to know if anyone can recommend a good author with the plays written as a story to interest them if that exists!

Dc are 5 and 7. I'm flagging:)

There's an Usbourne book of a few different plays in the one book. My dd loves them.

Marcia Williams has done some in comic form so they can follow the pictures as you read the text

I am an English teacher and used this article for some ideas when writing a scheme of work for a lower ability group who needed Shakespeare retold: www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/apr/22/top-10-andrew-matthews-shakespeare-books (sorry about link, on phone on app)

Also if you go to YouTube and search "Shakespeare Animated Tales" there are some lovely cartoon versions of some of the stories. The Romeo and Juliet one is especially nice and I remember really enjoying it as a child aged about 7 or 8.

Thank you - I'm going to have a good look at them all and see if I can find any outdoor theatre productions:)

Ds1 is getting the Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross boxed set for his 7th birthday, having enjoyed some from the library. Would love to hear if you find any appropriate productions.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz do family friendly versions of some of the plays. Shortened versions, workshops, that type of thing if that's any help.

I have a very nice illustrated compendium of the stories, I'll have a look what it's called when I go upstairs.

This is the one I have.

What lovely postings! They have brought joy to my heart. I remember telling my two children of about seven and nine the story of Twelfth Night and showing them pictures from the Lambs Tales which was all that was available at the time. I then took them to a good production in London. I thought it might not work but to my delight they sat entranced and they laughed at the business of Malvolia's letter. I have learnt over the years to never underestimate children. I think telling the story with some pictures is a great way of delivering some of Shakespeare. The more lively the approach the better. I bet it's great at the Globe and they do tours! Lucky children to have such a great mum.

Thank you for all your kind words and suggestions, its very helpful!

We used the set that is illustrated by Tony Ross, when our children were that age and they were great. Twelfth Night has always been a favourite and we went to see it at Stratford a couple of years ago when our youngest was 11 and he loved it because he knew the plot so could follow what was going on. The Leon Garfield editions are great, too but aimed slightly older.

Was also going to suggest the Usbourne books. Also Orchard books have a compilation of some of them which is very beautiful

I bought the Shakespeare kids box set from The Book People a few weeks ago. It's by Andrew Mathews and Tony Ross, published by Orchard, I think there's 16 in the set.

DS is 7.6 and he loves them. They're really short, usually 30 odd pages with good illustrations and a summary at the end. He often reads ahead them we go through and read them together and chat about the story.

Lots of violence and fights in them, which probably explains why he's so engrossed in them. I'm enjoying them too . It's filling in holes in my general knowledge.

My dd 9 has both the Usborne and the Marcia Williams books.She adores the Usborne one.I was pleased recently as we were looking round secondaries and she was chatting to a prefect showing us around re Macbeth and how much she loves it.

Are you anywhere near London? We went to see Twelfth Night reimagined at the Regent's Park open air theatre, and the whole family loved it. Its on until next Saturday I think:

openairtheatre.com/production/twelfth-night-reimagined

Or worth looking out for next year as I get the impression it is an annual thing as the trailer seems to show a few other productions.

I might have to make a special trip to London:)
I've found some children's books that are in poetry form, but for children and great fun to read, so we are having a go with those.

I love them growing up - its sparked an interest in ds for architecture re the Juliet balcony:) we might do the Romans at home and head off to Rome for a cheap break next year. Dd entranced with cleopatra and her power:)