Book Reviews by Carol Neeland for LS 5603: Literature for Children and Young Adults

Summary:

Written for children as young as eight, this book details the life of William Shakespeare. It includes information about his childhood, his early schooling, his marriage, and his adult life. Some details about his works that would be interesting to children are discussed. The book ends with a postscript that discusses the evolution of the English language and the part Shakespeare played in that evolution.

Critical Analysis: 

From beginning to end, Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare is intriguing and enjoyable for young readers. Diane Stanley starts off by saying, “Like detectives, historians gather all the known facts together until a pattern begins to appear. And when that pattern reveals the life of one of the most exceptional writers of all time, what an exciting discovery that is!” Truly, Diane Stanley knows how to grasp her readers’ interest. The description of Shakespeare’s early schooling would be fascinating to children who might not know much about this time in history: 

When William was six or seven, he entered the local grammar school. It was a good school for its day, and it was free, though only boys could go…William had an amazing memory, and years later he frequently referred to the myths and history of his childhood study in the great plays he wrote. 

Even though I studied Shakespeare’s play in college, there were quite a lot of interesting facts in this book that I wasn’t aware of. For example, the word “theatre” comes from the first playhouse in London, The Theatre. Something else that I never realized and that children would find interesting is where the costumes for the plays came from: 

In those days, it was customary for a gentleman to leave his clothes to his faithful servants when he died. But servants didn’t wear that sort of clothing, so they sold it to the actors to wear as costumes. 

Imagine a fifth grader finding out that all those fancy costumes used to belong to rich dead people! They would be enthralled. On a similar note, when the young readers discover that the actors put pigs’ blood under their shirts to make stabbings look realistic and that young men whose voices hadn’t yet changed played the women’s parts, I can only imagine the captivated response.  

The pictures in the book are unusual. At first, I thought they were too simplistic and old-fashioned but then I realized that this style of illustration actually added to the meaning of the book. Since the pictures look like paintings from that day, it is easier for the young reader to imagine the scenes in which the book is set. 

The description of the Globe Theatre catching fire and burning to the ground was also a good one. Not only does it say that one man’s pants caught on fire, though nobody was injured, it also would spark excellent discussion. Imagine what the world would be like if Shakespeare’s plays had all burned? What words and phrases would be missing from our language? 

Some of the linguistic and literary issues might also be interesting to children. Since most people didn’t write and there were no dictionaries or grammar books, conventions of the English language were not standardized. In fact, on the same page, Shakespeare spelled the same word in different ways, including his own name. The book also states that Shakespeare wrote the plays for actors to perform, not for the printed page, so he rarely revised what he had written knowing that the actors would modifying it anyway. I’m not sure that teachers of writing would want their students to know that, but it is an interesting fact nonetheless. 

The only improvement I can think of for this book would be the addition of page numbers and/or subtitles for each section. Granted, children’s picture books don’t normally have page numbers. However, this book is likely to be used by students for research as well as for pleasure. Being able to cite their sources with page numbers is an important skill for students and it would be difficult to do that with this book. The reader would have to count the number of pages himself. 

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare is well-written and spell binding. Even if a young reader were not previously interested in Shakespeare, this book would draw children in and entice them to read not only this picture book biography, but others by Diane Stanley as well. 

Review Excerpt: 

…In the course of a brief text, the authors manage to touch not only upon the life but also upon important aspects of many of the major plays. There is even a tantalizing postscript with introductory glimpses of the development of the English language. As with their previous works, the authors provide a short but meaty bibliography. Stanley’s distinctive full-color gouache paintings are clearly her own, and just as clearly planted firmly in archival research. They reinforce and expand the text with humor and movement. As icing on the cake, the generous open space and attractive page decoration rival the production given Shaka. Books like these need only be displayed to attract readers. And once opened, they keep their promise. Lucky kids!Sally Margolis,
Deerfield Public Library, IL 

Connections: 

Here are some websites that young readers would enjoy exploring before or after reading this book: 

http://www.ezshakespeareforkids.com/
http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=588
This site has Shakespearean Insults & Quotations and Shakespeare Scripts for Kids as well as many other extensions. 

Also, for activities that would compliment the information in Bard ofvAvon: The Story of William Shakespeare: 

Shakespeare for Kids: His Life and Times, 21 Activities by Colleen Aagesen

Bibliographic Data:

Margolis, Sally. “Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare” School Library Journal (1992), http://reviews.schoollibraryjournal.com/bd.aspx?isbn=0688091083&pub=sl (accessed March 30, 2008).

Stanley, Diane. Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. ISBN Number: 0688091083

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