A Midsummer Night's Dream for Kids (Shakespeare Can Be Fun!)

This book is written in rhyme and illustrated with children's drawings. It also contains letters, lists, and other kinds of writing (for example diary entries) written by children in the character's voices. The rhyme, written by Ms. Burdett, brilliantly explains and clarifies the complicated plot lines of the play and is evocative of Shakespeare's language. The writings by the children make the feelings and thoughts of the character's even more accessible to children. They also model how children can use writing themselves, if they are so inclined, to deepen their comprehension of a piece. As a Reading Specialist and writing teacher, I think this book is extremely valuable as an introduction to "A Midsummer Night's Dream." My granddaughter, who is 8, is currently enrolled in Shakespeare camp and is performing a little scene from this play. She and I have had great discussions and laughs as I read the book aloud to her. This is just one of several books which summarize Shakespeare's plays I am using to familiarize her with the Bard. It is a great beginning for this study and could also stand alone. We loved it.

Bought this for my 4th grade granddaughter, prior to taking her to see her first Shakespeare play. It stuck very closely to the original play, not only true to plot, but in verse that was similar to, but easier to Shakespeare's original. We enjoyed reading this together, and she was prepared and excited to see the play. It was done in original Shakespearean form and language, but she was able to not only follow the plot, but to thoroughly enjoy and laugh at it. I'm a retired English teacher, and I will be ordering more of this author's books for other Shakespeare plays !

I bought this so that my 8 year old grand daughter would be prepared to see the play. She enjoyed the book immensely and identified with the children writers and artists whose work illustrates the book. Although a second grader she was able also to recognize the "original" spelling of the children, including learning that the Canadians spell honour with a "u". We've now watched the film of the play and will see the play next week. I'm looking forward to that.

Good resource

Fantastic book. Printed on thick paper with a sturdy paperback cover that has held up to a tremendous amount of use. Every page was brightly colored, easy to read, and had drawings and projects that other kids had made. That sparked my kids’ imaginations and let them take on Shakespeare on their terms. There a parents and educators section at the back that provides great ideas for creative and learning extensions. I loved teaching with this book and purchased several others in the series.

Children will love this

My older daughter (20), who loves Shakespeare, and my younger one (10), who had never read Shakespeare before, read this together out loud and had a ball. They both loved it and want to read more. I thought it was a good introduction to the play and very cleverly written and illustrated.

Second graders have written the explanatory notes and illustrated this Shakespeare adaption (with the text done in well adapted iambic pentameter). The system makes Shakespeare fun for kids such as the elementary kids I used it with. But it also gives good literary value. I have enjoyed reading the series myself. jj