William Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream

By: Coville, Bruce

Book Overview

One night two young couples run into an enchanted forest in an attempt to escape their problems. But these four humans do not realize that the forest is filled with fairies and hobgoblins who love... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142501689
• ISBN13: 9780142501689
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.3" x 10.9"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Perfect Shakespeare starter for kids

Perfect starter for Shakespeare! My daughters are 8 and 5. They were both very interested in this book I was very much surprised with my five year old how interested she was in it. It was a great starter and I would definitely recommend it!!

Excellent Early Exposure to Shakespeare

I had my doubts about introducing Shakespeare to my 7 year old...until I got hold of Bruce Coville's book! My son loved the story and was really able to follow the complicated plots. He has a picture of each character at the beginning of the book for them to follow and we kept reviewing who was who and who liked who. Wonderful! He still likes to pull the book out and look at the beautiful pictures and review in his mind the story.

Recommended for Children of All Ages

My 5th grade students reading the original text of Romeo and Juliet love this book and the same author illustrator's version of that story for the simplicity of the language and for the phenomenal illustrations. The girls are especially interested, and wait for a turn to read the book. My own 4 and 5 year old children love the book, and ask to have it read to them every night at bedtime. They love fairies in general, and that was their original draw to the story (along with the amazing pictures). They now play "Midsummer Night's Dream" at playtime, and the 5 year old actually watched (and loved)a DVD of the original language production after several readings of this. I also highly recommend the same team's version of Romeo and Juiet for the same reasons, both 5th graders and preschoolers love them.

Pictures!

I'm surprised that none of the reviews I've read (I didn't read them all, but about 25) even mention the pictures in this wonderful edition by Bruce Coville. I've read the play and adore it, seen it several times, etc. But the reason one would buy this book rather than Shakespeare's words is for the clear, modern English storytelling and the gorgeous images. This is a wonderful book to introduce Shakespeare to anyone. I personally love the poetry of Shakespeare's lines but know that they are difficult for children and Shakspeare newbies. This book tells the story in clear words and great pictures, full of classical fairies and beautiful maidens and valorous youths (plus some great facial expressions on Bottom). Worth every penny.

Entertaining introduction to Shakespeare for children.

I chose this book for my 10 year old as our nightly reading book one week. My 6 1/2 year old listened intently each night, not wanting me to put it down. It has fostered an interest for both of my children in reading more Shakespeare. I only wish there were more of his works translated like this as it was a wonderful experience to share such a great piece of literature. I would even be interested in reading many more Shakespearean works for myself in this format. Beautiful illustrations. Great gift for your local school.

A Wonderful, Classic Children's Book

This book is a must-have for anyone who loves classic literature and wants to share it with their children. The pictures are gorgeous and the text is done in a way that the storyline is easy to follow, while still in a semblance of shakespearean style. This book contains no offensive material, but has all the mischief, folly and happy-endings that all good fairy tales have. It will make a wonderful addition to your library