The Tempest

Shakespeare Stories #19

by Andrew Matthews, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

A charming retelling of this magical tale of power and justice. With Notes on Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre and Power in the Tempest.

Genres: Classics, Shakespeare, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Literature

64 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2002

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

[chev ۫ ꣑ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a simple introduction to the classic, the tempest, with short notes located at the back of the book.
Recommended for: People who need an introduction to Shakespeare works]
5/5 Chev's picks
Quirky and fun, these series never failed to amaze me (and my little sister):)
5/5 Chev's picks
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[Rafael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked when Caliban thought that 2 men
we're God's to help him escape a island.

[Abi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the full version last year and my opinion of this is still the same. There is no plot. I don't like it. Case closed

[Ardyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the bookish parenting world, people seem to go on about Lamb or Nesbit for elementary kiddos, and I'm sure those were the bee's knees a century ago -- but for my [21st century] money, it's Matthews all the way.

Not everybody is going to like Matthews. It really comes down to your objective in reading a juvenile retelling in the first place. To my mind, the whole point is so that they can internalize and enjoy the story before encountering it in Elizabethan English. We fail to meet this objective when we use slightly-more-modern-but-still-very-archaic English editions just because they are on lists of classic kid lit, you know?

I've looked at many juvenile retellings -- most of the newer ones are more than a bit dry, with the notable exception of Leon Garfield. I love the Garfield, but it overwhelms my 9yo. Maybe he'll age into it? Meantime, here we are with Matthews, and plenty happy about it.

[Alice Rimmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the story of the tempest is good, I can't say the same with the book. It lacked detail & even though the pictures were great, it took up a lot of room which could've been used for writing. My favourite bit was when Calaban the monster celebrated the characters going home. One thing to improve the book would be to explain more about the characters and battle scenes.

[Shveta Bansal · Rating 4 out of 5]

All’s well that ends well! Forgiveness is more powerful than revenge

[mollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐️’s (Like).

[jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

da ist halt kein feuer, da ist halt kein salz, da ist halt keine würze

[Christ Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story from Shakespeare is is quite of the last stories from him before death.I quite like the character Prospero.At first,I thought he was a cruel character,but starting from the middle of the story I started to understand his kindness instead of cruelness.This story also teaches people not to hate and forgive.
The story talks about Prospero being sent away from his kingdom and later finding back the man who sent him away in the island they both are in,and Prospero forgives them and at last leaves Caliban in the island himself.

[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.
I really quite enjoyed this version of the tempest which came as quite a surprise as I have read the original on a few occasions for school, as well as watching the play a couple times and I did not particularly like either, though since I found this version entertaining I may give the original another go...

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some considerable revisions, partly to make it less complicated (removing some characters) and to make the language appealing to kids (adding descriptions not in Shakespeare's play).

[Andrew Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of a series of 16 Orchard Classics adaptations of Shakespeare for LKS2 children, and after discovering them whilst on placement in school, I quickly became a huge fan. Of course, England's most famous playwright wrote many more than 16 plays (historically disputed, but approximately 40) and many poems besides, but this is a wonderfully accessible introduction to some of the UK's most popular drama and poetic language, genres the LKS2 National Curriculum requires pupils start to discover. 'The Tempest' opens with an illustrated list of characters by Tony Ross (best known for illustrating Francesca Simon's 'Horrid Henry' stories), followed by the story itself concisely but captivatingly told by Andrew Matthews, using descriptive language full of simile, personification and onomatopoeia preparing young readers for National Curriculum UKS2 writing challenges to come. I particularly like Matthews' use of verbatim quotation from Shakespeare for characters' direct speech and to open up/close chapters: he is not afraid to use Shakespeare's Early Modern English. Lines such as 'For thy betrayal of thy brother Prospero' or 'such brave vessel who had some noble creature in her' stretch young minds but accustom them also to the genuine article, hopefully stimulating many curious questions and a love of the material for years to come. Based upon this book, children might well enjoy performing their own production of 'The Tempest' in class, designing props and scenery in art and D&T, providing some appropriate Renaissance music for the period or perhaps even considering the Italian geography of Milan & Naples or the mathematics of authentic 'groundling' audience seating or ticket allocation! At the conclusion of the story, Matthews provides a background to Shakespeare's motivation for writing, along with a vivid description of how experiencing a late Tudor/early Stuart theatre such as The Globe might have felt - I didn't realise that Prospero's farewell to magic is viewed widely as an allegory for Shakespeare's own farewell to theatre in this, one of the last plays he ever penned. Other books in the series additionally link to European history and geography (Ancient Rome and Egypt in Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra, early Scotland in MacBeth), later musical adaptations (such as Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet) or even potential fairy tale allusions (A Midsummer Night's Dream). I shall definitely read and review more of the series on my own Goodreads reviews page, but confess I have ordered the entire set for myself anyway; even for an adult, these books are a swift and reader-friendly way to brush up on important literary and historical general knowledge, consulted (understandably in an adult's case) alongside the real thing!

[Isobel McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child who loved theatre and reading this was a perfect book growing up. These child friendly versions of Shakespeare's play would be a great way of getting children used to the stories he tells before seeing the play or if lucky enough a work shop like I did in Primary School. I would use these plays to introduce Shakespeare in KS2. Using these plays could lead to cross curricular lessons in history, about learning the different time periods in which he set his plays, and drama in which the children perform the book versions of the stories themselves.

[MiR · Rating 3 out of 5]

"آه ! من به خاطر رنج دیگران رنج برده ام! این کشتی زیبا که بدون شک انسان هایی شرافتمند سوار آن بوده اند ، متلاشی شده است." میراندا گفت
.
.
اول برام جالبه چجوری همچین داستان فانتزی رو اجرا کردند روی صحنه
دوم ، طوفان ، جزو اخرین نمایشنامه های شکسپیره
نمیگم اسپویل شه ولی حس میکنم ویلیام شکسپیر، از قبل میدونسته که میخواد بمیره واسه همین پراسپروی قبل از‌ترک جزیره اون کار رو کرد.

[MAK KA · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was talk about a wizard and her daughter had been deportation by his own son and he tried to led his son back to take he back to his own country. But finally they also can back to his own country. I think this book quite boring and sad. And the domen wasn't have too much sense

[Teya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was simple, to the point but wonderfully written. Gave me a quick insight into the play’s storyline and also some key points about the power within the play, ‘The Tempest’ and also some history on The Globe Theatre.

[Liselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok! I apparently already knew the story, without ever reading about the Tempest (in case you don't know, I'm reading the books because Shakespeare is a little bit too much for me as plays are too difficult for me haha) it's ok!

[Michael Giannattasio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really cool! Although not a lot happened. There are 7 humans,1 spirit and 1 lizard man. I'm not saying ANY names!🤐🤐😶 Fine I'l say 1 name. The lizard man was called _______.😂🤣HA HA! Fooled you! read the book to find out :-) .

[Syd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleared things up. Better 4 younglings 2 read be4 reading the original Shakespearean play
Recommended ages 8 & up

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of revenge.

This was a good story and easy to read.

Overall rating 3.5.

Reading time around 30 minutes (aimed at children).

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading these to see what they are like for my kids....not sure they will enjoy this almost too short

[Rebecca Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this and I am looking forward to read the original version soon.

[Lucie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, this is probably much better in the proper classic version, because this was just kind of weird.

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought the collection to read to my son. Really enjoyed it and a great in to the world of Shakespeare

[Happy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As long as my daughter likes it, it is going to be 5 stars. Tehehehehe

[maja ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

read this with my bestie jess and we were thoroughly confused, tbh i weren’t listening half the time she read

[Mk · Rating 3 out of 5]

was a bit boring but funny I really enjoyed it but I feel that it is too short and the writing style doesn't match up for twelve-year-olds but a good start to English literature.

[maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

i don't have much to say it was just an simplified overview of the the tempest.

[Cash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it's nice to forgive?

[Kyra James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very quick and very interesting. Want to read the full book.