bry's-gal Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 We just listened to Jim Weiss's Shakespeare CD. My daughter LOVED it! I would like to find her some more like that to listen to and even some books to read. What do you recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HLDoll Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Edith Nesbit and Charles Lamb each have rewritten Shakespeare for children. You can find the audio for free at Librivox.org and the books in the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquinas Academy Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Audiobooks drive me crazy so I can't recommend any to you, but I'm a bit of a Shakespeare geek so here are some books you might want to check out. Shakespeare Stories This is my favourite Shakespeare book for kids. Tales from Shakespeare Shakespeare can be Fun The Young Reader's Shakespeare The Best of Shakespeare Tales from Shakespeare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 I'm of the school that says Shakespeare is all about the language, not the stories so much, and teach accordingly. We start with Kingfisher's Treasury of Shakespeare's Verse so as to introduce Shakespeare as poetry rather than as stories. When they're older, we use our ancient Living Shakespeare records (abridged but not adapted, these were made for school productions) for the stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 My kids loved the Shakespeare is Fun series by Lois Burdett! We had to order them through ILL, but it was worth it! I may even think of buying them at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtothreeboys Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 We have read and really enjoyed this series of Shakespeare. My kids love them. Macbeth and they have many others too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpnick in nc Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I'm of the school that says Shakespeare is all about the language, not the stories so much, and teach accordingly. We start with Kingfisher's Treasury of Shakespeare's Verse so as to introduce Shakespeare as poetry rather than as stories. When they're older, we use our ancient Living Shakespeare records (abridged but not adapted, these were made for school productions) for the stories. This makes a lot of sense! I've just added the KF book to my wish list; it looks great! Do you find that they can follow the story in that original, abridged form? Or do you summarize the story prior to listening? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 We have been more about performance than reading, honestly. The Jim Weiss tapes are great and we listened to them, but there's nothing like seeing Shakespeare performed to get a lot of the intent, even if they don't understand every word. We started with the comedies. My daughter's favorite is "Midsummer Night's Dream," which she first watched on video at age 5, though "Much Ado About Nothing" is a close second. She saw her first of the tragedies recently (age 10.5---"Hamlet" with David Tennant). There are several she won't see for a while yet ("Titus Andronicus" springs to mind!). I tend this way with other things as well. We've just finished listening to Derek Jacobi's performance of the Iliad (an abridged version of Fagles' translation) rather than reading some of the children's books about it. The Ian McKellan reading of "The Odyssey" is not quite as riveting, but still quite good. She is rather tired of "young dawn with her rose-red fingers" already, though.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiKC Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 The Bruce Colville (or is it Coville?) picture books are wonderful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handmaiden Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit and Tales from Shakespeare by Charles & Mary Lamb are both available as free downloads for Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle device, you can download a free app for your PC, iPad, iPhone, Android phone, etc. which allows you to download and read Kindle books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 This makes a lot of sense! I've just added the KF book to my wish list; it looks great! Do you find that they can follow the story in that original, abridged form? Or do you summarize the story prior to listening? I read through the story with them, paraphrasing and adding more familiar synonyms as we go. I don't consider it necessary that they understand every single thing, though; I figure that small children go through most of their early life not understanding much of the vocabulary and expressions they hear anyway, and so it won't be a new experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit and Tales from Shakespeare by Charles & Mary Lamb are both available as free downloads for Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle device, you can download a free app for your PC, iPad, iPhone, Android phone, etc. which allows you to download and read Kindle books. I got the Edith Nesbit one for my Kindle and am using it as a read aloud for my 2 and a half year old. She loves it. Now every time I get out my Kindle, she comes and sits on my lap and says "read shakespit!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 The Bruce Coville versions are the best for younger kids. My kids did not like the Lambs' version and they only thought the Nesbit ones were okay. The illustrations in the Coville version are lush and lovely. Many people like the Lois Burdett ones, but I find the poetry rhymes in them annoying myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Audiobooks drive me crazy so I can't recommend any to you, but I'm a bit of a Shakespeare geek so here are some books you might want to check out.Shakespeare Stories This is my favourite Shakespeare book for kids. Tales from Shakespeare Shakespeare can be Fun The Young Reader's Shakespeare The Best of Shakespeare Tales from Shakespeare The Bruce Coville versions are the best for younger kids. My kids did not like the Lambs' version and they only thought the Nesbit ones were okay. The illustrations in the Coville version are lush and lovely. Many people like the Lois Burdett ones, but I find the poetry rhymes in them annoying myself. Thank you for the recommendations :). I just put Garfield's, Nesbit's, one Burdett and one from Coville on hold from our library to check them out. I have two Charles and Mary Lamb editions that my friend bought for us as a gift. This is one of them, which I will be using next school year: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Shakespeare-Charles-Lamb/dp/0810994534/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305069809&sr=1-2 But I am looking at other options also. Thank you for this thread :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 (edited) I can't resist adding my three cheers for the Coville books. They are fabulous. There are dramatized audio versions of them which are equally wonderful! I sincerely hopes he writes more. After reading Coville's version of Twelfth Night, I read the Charles Lamb version and was struck by how Lamb sucked all the humor out of it. And despite an almost 100% focus on plot (rather than language), Lamb also removed key characters and actions. Edited May 11, 2011 by Persephone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Usbourne has a Shakespeare book. And Matt Whitling has a simple study on Shakespeare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama2two Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 The Bruce Coville versions are the best for younger kids. My kids did not like the Lambs' version and they only thought the Nesbit ones were okay. The illustrations in the Coville version are lush and lovely. Many people like the Lois Burdett ones, but I find the poetry rhymes in them annoying myself. I agree with everyone about Coville, my kids love these books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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