Studying Shakespeare with Your Children PDF Print E-mail

Shakespeare can be brought to life for children of any age. The list below is a selection of books that you might enjoy reading with your child which can help you both explore what Shakespeare has to offer:

Exploring Shakespeare's Stories

The Orchard book of Shakespeare stories
Retellings of eight of Shakespeare's most popular plays in story form, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Twelfth Night. Although the stories are aimed primarily at 9-12 year-olds, Barrett's illustrations brilliantly evoke the historical and otherworldly settings of the plays and ensure that the book will appeal as much to adults as to children.

This book is particularly nice to read aloud and is beautifully illustrated. You could probably read this with any age of child although it is worth remembering that many of Shakespeare's themes were fairly adult.

Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield
Of all the adaptations for children this is closest to the Shakespeare texts and even includes some dialogue from the plays themselves. Age 10 plus though it's easy to read aloud to any child and is a great way to get quickly familiar with a play that your child might be studying at school.

Mr William Shakespeare's Plays and Bravo Mr William Shakespeare 
Comic-strip versions of some of Shakespeare's best-loved plays, featuring their original dialogue and rowdy remarks from the audience. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Winter's Tale, As You Like It, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Twelfth Night, King Lear , The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest are all brought vividly to life.

These are great fun! They are nicely drawn comics perhaps reminiscent of reading Tin-Tin.  Here is something that children might well read for themselves and enjoy.

Exploring History and Context

The Usborne World of Shakespeare
A very wide ranging book with lots of things about the plays in their context. It addresses lots of important issues and is lavishly illustrated and visually interesting - good for a child who is studying Shakespeare at school. It is probably aimed at age 14 upwards, but it contains enough to offer something of interest to almost every reader. Eyewitness Shakespeare
Aimed at ages 10 + this book is mostly about  staging and history, rather  than the plays themselves. However it is a well illustrated and visually stimulating book which can be flicked through at random or followed from front to back . It is slightly more basic than the Usborne World of Shakespeare.

Shakespeare by Richard Brassey
Aimed at ages of approximately 7-11, this is a basic story of Shakespeare's life which is illustrated with cartoon pictures. This is an interesting read but it's worth remembering that, like any adult biography of Shakespeare, there is plenty of speculation in it.

All the books on the list above are for sale in our bookshop on Henley Street:

Tel. 01789 292176 or
E-mail

Out and About

A great way to complement any book is a day out in Stratford. Visit all the houses and enjoy the farm at Mary Arden's.  Stratford is a small but busy town that has something to offer all members of a family. 

It is also worth remembering that The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's Development Department run a series of workshops during the school holidays for children between the ages of 4 and 14.  These activities are linked to the core work of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and  centre on  arts and heritage.  Whilst the aim is to develop their creative interests,  the emphasis of the work is for the children to have an enjoyable experience.  Carers are encouraged to participate alongside their children and local sixth-form students are given the opportunity to work with the professionals as project mentors.  Events include a story telling workshop based on Shakespeare's plays and a mask making workshop based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. These workshops are creative and inspiring and just plain good fun!

To find out what's on when contact the Development Department on: 01789 204016.

To find out more about Shakespeare have a look at what children often ask.
 
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