Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare: Classic Shakespeare Retellings for Young Readers - Paperback

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare retells some of Shakespeare's most famous plays in clear, graceful prose for young readers. E. Nesbit takes the plots, characters, conflicts, and emotional power of the plays and makes them accessible without burying children under the difficulty of Elizabethan language. Kings, queens, lovers, fools, magicians, mistaken identities, jealous husbands, loyal daughters, cruel ambition, shipwrecks, fairies, and enchanted islands all become part of a first journey into Shakespeare's world.

First published in 1907, this collection has long served as a bridge between childhood reading and the plays themselves. Nesbit does not replace Shakespeare; she opens the door. Her retellings give young readers the story-shape of works such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Twelfth Night, and others, helping them recognize the people and situations before they meet the original language on the page or stage.

Readers looking for classic children's literature, Shakespeare introductions, family read-aloud books, school-friendly classics, and literary retellings for children will find this a useful and charming volume. Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare remains one of the best-known ways to introduce young readers to the drama, comedy, tragedy, romance, and wonder of Shakespeare.