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What about Gary Blackwood's Shakespeare Stealer series?

 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Shakespeare-Stealer-Series/Gary-Blackwood/e/9780525473206/?itm=3

 

My kids have both enjoyed these, and they might give a fun introduction to the world of Shakespeare.

 

There's another book called The King of Shadows, by Susan Cooper, that mine have enjoyed, too: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/King-of-Shadows/Susan-Cooper/e/9780689844454/?itm=1

 

I've never found any kids' versions of the stories that we liked. We've just always read summaries or the full text and then seen the plays either live or on video.

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What could I add? What have you done? Any games or activities?

 

Your 4th grade ds is a little young, but I would definitely start with the 6th grader. I had ds read Charles and Mary Lamb. Then we would listen to the Arkangel Shakespeare CD while reading the play. I had ds memorize a monologue from each. Cap it off with going to the play or renting a video version.

 

I started with A Midsummer Night's Dream and ds memorized Puck's "If we shadows have offended" monologue.

 

HTH-

Mandy

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My daughter is 11 and we typically cover two "Shakespeares" a year.

She's been listening to the Bard for the last few years on her own.

 

This audio or this audio would be a good start for you. (And they're free)

 

From there (and since my DD is already familiar with the stories, we just go right to this...) I opted to read aloud from Shakespeare Stores I and Shakespeare Stories II (by Leon Garfield).

 

After that, we use the No Fear Shakespeare version of whatever piece we're covering. I LOVE THESE! I buy *one* book for her to use in her hands and I read mine off the computer screen (free!). We read through the whole play over the course of a couple/few weeks, one scene a day. We alternate parts as best as we can. It works REALLY great! We usually read the REAL Shakespeare part side but when it is exceptionally long piece or the language is tough we either read the "modern version" instead or also.

 

While we're studying the play, behind the scenes (on my free time) I am hunting/ reading reviews/ etc locating a DVD version that will be suitable for us to watch together. We're members of Netflix so that makes it easier but there are usually a variety of versions of his plays at the library, too. So once we're partner read the play then we move to the movie, I break that up into a week-worth of watching usually, or if nothing is going on, we'll watch the whole thing at once on a weekend morning/afternoon.

 

As you can see, NOTHING fancy at all, but it works for us. We've not done in formal "analysis" of his work yet, perhaps we'll get to that in highschool level. For now, just having a lovely time getting to know Wm. Shakespeare is a great joy!

 

Oh.. I forgot to mention, I also try to have her memorize a portion of whatever play we're doing, but we're big on memory work here!

 

HTH

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We like Adam McKeown's retellings. http://www.amazon.com/Young-Readers-Shakespeare-Macbeth/dp/1402711166/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227214251&sr=1-3

 

They're more wordy than a picture book but much simpler than the Lamb book. The illustrations are very nice and add to the reading. He tries to use the obviously recognizable Shakespeare language (Life is a poor player who strutts and frets his hour upon the stage..... a tale told by an idiot). I've used Macbeth, Julius Caesar and will use Romeo and Juliet this year. We've listened to the audio version of the Lamb book after reading each of these versions. Macbeth was particularly fun.

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My 4th grader reads from

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeareby Edith Nesbit

which I purchased from

Yesterday's Classics: http://www.yesterdaysclassics.com/catalog/catalogbytitle.php

 

She likes it very much. It is her Monday reading, and she looks forward to Monday's when she can read the next story.

 

During last summer she also listened (about 20 times over) to 1124-015.jpgShakespeare for Children

read by Jim Weiss

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