A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare Stories #14

by Andrew Matthews, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

Over two million Shakespeare Shorts sold! Discover the world of Shakespeare with this collection of brilliant stories - perfect for readers of all ages.

In ancient Athens, Hermia finds herself in love with Demetrius, who is engaged to Helena, who has run off with Lysander! The path of true love definitely does not run smooth for these young lovers... Could the powerful king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, solve this tricky problem of unrequited love?

A brilliant retelling of Shakespeare's famous romantic comedy.

Genres: Classics, Shakespeare, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Plays, School

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Andrew Matthews was born in South Glamorgan in 1948. Andrew taught English in Hampshire after which he became a full-time writer. He lives in Reading with his wife and their cats. Andrew's work has been widely translated and he has made numerous appearances at schools and libraries throughout the UK.


Source: United Agents.

Reviews

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely! A short introduction to the famous play, now I really have to start reading Shakespeare, I know I know, why haven't I yet? Intimidated I guess.

[Hitesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic theme is creating errors and causing confusion and then setting it alright.

Hermia loves Demetrius. But Demetrius wants to marry Helena. But Helena has eloped with Lysander.

Amidst all the corruption of relationships are King and Queen of fairies and their elf, who in trying to make things right for these couples, adds more to the confusion.

I have no patience to go through a full fledged plays of Shakespeare and so these books are good option for anyone who wants to fill himself with enough Shakespeare, he wants to know.

Short and sweet version of comedy by Shakespeare. I am going to get myself and read all the books in this series !!!

[thea 🧚 · Rating 3 out of 5]

These lil books are meant for kids but I love reading them before I read the actual play, to get an idea of what is going on before hand 😂

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit short cos it took me about ten minutes to read.

[Della Tingle · Rating 5 out of 5]

These Shakespeare Stories are perfect for both children and adults wanting a quick Shakespearean read! 📕

[Ardyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given our 9yo son's in the "ewww this is embarrassing" phase of life, I did not expect to get through this without a struggle... but there was none!

I chalk it up to Bottom on the cover, but the squiggly illustrations probably helped.

Kiddo's review: "It was hilarious!"

[Samar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is completely funny because the queen of fairies fell in love with a donkey. This all began when Oberon the king of fairies didn’t get the best fairy honour. Titania got the best fairy honour. When Titania fell asleep Oberon asked Buck to get some magic flowers for Titania. “The first thing Titania sees she will fall in love with it,” said Oberon. He laughed an evil laugh. Oberon thought that the first thing she sees might be a snail a slug or a frog. This was kind of amusing. At the end of the book a bunch of 2 girls and 2 boys fell in love and got married. Oberon made the 2 couples fall in love.

[Alice Rimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because the pictures are unique and different but nice in the story. The length was perfect for a bedtime story and I could read it really quickly. Although the book tells you the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream well, we don't use some of the words that were in the book which made it tricky to make full sense of what was going on. The book is good for adults to read to there children as a bedtime story.

[Lilly Fountain · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn't follow the real story and some of the pictures were creepy...

[Arrash Mazdai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another charming Shakespeare story, if a bit on the simpler side.

[jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

whats the deal with all the double weddings

[Eloise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to Shakespeare, read out loud to a 6 year old. I can't imagine children older than 6/7 being satisfied with the length or complexity of this version.

[Priya Birdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fucking love Shakespeare

[Gethin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick book which is a Shakespeare play. I an doing it in school and i have read it to understand the plot.

[Bethany]

if your wife would rather love a donkey you should just get a divorce tbh

[Tanzina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an abridged version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream written in prose. This story brings together two worlds, the human world of Athens and the fairy world of the woods outside the city. One world is ruled by the law; the other is ruled by magic. But nonetheless both worlds are full of trouble and conflict.

Just when tragedy strikes, it is put right by the use of magic. This is a fun read and Shakespeare pokes fun at how lovers may behave when they are in love. It is particularly funny how in both worlds all characters are thrown into chaos because of love. Towards the end of the story the characters in the human world are not sure where all their madness came from? But they simply justify it as a ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

This short story is an excellent introduction to the play of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and children are bound to enjoy reading it, as it has the notion of magic. Children will appreciate this unseen world, as it compliments other books that they are interested in such as Harry Potter which explores the world of magic. The book is suitable for upper KS2 children; it has cross curricular links with R.E, Literacy and History.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

We got this abridged set of Shakespearean stories to introduce our kids to Shakespeare. What I love about the books is that they are very simplified, both in structure and grammar, and they have 'character sketch' pages at the beginning of each story. It can be difficult to keep track of who's who in Shakespeare, so there is a pictorial definition of sorts, of each main character, which I found myself referencing throughout to story to help me remember which suitor was which, in The Taming, for example.

The kids followed along no problem - they are 13 and 11 years old - and enjoyed this story immensely. I will say though, that I was hoping for something a bit more robust. The stories seemed over simplified to me, and some of the most famous language - Puck's monologue at the end of 'Midsummer Night's Dream' for example - was left out. My 11 year old had to memorize that monologue for school, and he loves it, so I know it's not too complex. Perhaps the books were written for a younger age - if so then cool, but for my teen and pre-teen I wanted something a little more stout.

Still a great way to introduce the kids to some of the best literature though!

[Alice magical library · Rating 4 out of 5]

We find ourselves going into a tragic love story with the characters, Lysander, Hermia, Helena and Demetrius.
When Hermia is betrothed to Demetrius, but is in love with Lysander, they run away together. Helena thinks this is her chance to grab Demetrius’ attention but instead Demetrius follows Hermia and Helena follows him.
Meanwhile, The Fairy King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, are arguing, and Titania runs away. Puck, an elf, follows Oberon’s orders by finding a love flower. He tells Puck to use it on Demetrius so he falls in love with Helena. But when things get mixed up, they start to go wrong…
Who will fall in love with whom? And will things be able to be fixed it time before hearts are broken?
I read this for bookclub. I was so excited to read a Shakespeare story for it and can not wait to discuss it at the next meet up. Now I have read this I think it has readied me to be able to read Shakespeares written original text.

[Alice Branch · Rating 5 out of 5]

We find ourselves going into a tragic love story with the characters, Lysander, Hermia, Helena and Demetrius.
When Hermia is betrothed to Demetrius, but is in love with Lysander, they run away together. Helena thinks this is her chance to grab Demetrius’ attention but instead Demetrius follows Hermia and Helena follows him.
Meanwhile, The Fairy King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, are arguing, and Titania runs away. Puck, an elf, follows Oberon’s orders by finding a love flower. He tells Puck to use it on Demetrius so he falls in love with Helena. But when things get mixed up, they start to go wrong…
Who will fall in love with whom? And will things be able to be fixed it time before hearts are broken?
I read this for bookclub. I was so excited to read a Shakespeare story for it and can not wait to discuss it at the next meet up. Now I have read this I think it has readied me to be able to read Shakespeares written original text.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is 100% my own opinion!

I managed to finish this in around 1 hour and am giving it 3 stars because while I enjoyed it, it’s not a groundbreaking read for me!

I know this book is aimed at children and the writing is basic, but I’ve never really read much Shakespeare before so wanted to get an idea of what A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about.

This story basically follows humans and fairies who cross paths and face challenges around falling in love with the wrong people.

I enjoyed this book and it gave me a good overview of the plot for A Midsummer Night’s Dream so I may pick up the original story sometime! I have a box set of these Shakespeare stories and am looking forward to reading the rest soon. ☺️

[Liselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reading these as I love Shakespeare, but can't actually read his work as my ADD really ruins it for me. I read a Midsummer Night's Dream last year and I enjoyed it but didn't really get it because it was just too hard for me to comprehend it's format. This little one didn't really quite catch the essence of the play as the Macbeth edition did which is such a shame! I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really anything special, basically!

[Mary T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is our first foray into Shakespeare. We read a picture book version first but got completely confused by all the different people falling in love. This short chapter book (read in one sitting) helped clear up some of that. Next, we'll listen to the actual play while following along, and then we'll go to a summer presentation of the play in the park. My 12yo and 10yo boys aren't into Shakespeare yet, but hopefully this will be a good intro for us all.

[heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend donated a boxset of illustrated Shakespeare short stories (which I'm packing off later this month for a children's library), and this is the first one I read from the set. I enjoyed the simplified retelling of the original play and the quirky illustrations (very Quentin Blake vibes).

This was a fun trip down childhood memory lane for me. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Fern Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for work - still counts towards my books of the year though right?
It’s a nice version to help students understand the main context of the play before jumping in with the real version. Helps them to tackle the difficult vocabulary easier when they know the story line from a short read like this.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to read more Shakespeare's but didn't know where to start so I bought the kids versions of his works. They are easy to understand and have some nice illustrations to look at, plus the covers are in my opinion so cute.
Surprisingly good, looking forward to reading the original!

[Al🌸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book to support my knowledge and understanding of the story for English literature lessons at the school I work at . It’s a quick read- simple - easy to understand .
Shows characters at the beginning and summarises Shakespeare’s ideology behind the story:)

[Rebecca Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book the illustrations were so beautiful and I always love a happy ending.

I would 100% reccomend this for children or if like me you dont think you will understand the language in the original.

[Hayley Jones-Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little too simple for my class (working as year 4 at the time) but it did inspire them to want to look at the "real" version & seek out the best Bottom on youtube productions if the play. They could also transfer what they were seeing in a ballet clip to the story.

[Julie Van der Wal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was easy to read for me. That’s why I read the book all in once. I didn’t understand every word but it’s always nice to learn a few new words. I love the drawings, they also make it more fun to read. I’m looking forward to reading other Shakespeare stories!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the books we read for our 1st term of Shakespeare with AO...krb 10/12/17