Shakespeare: Investigate the Bard's Influence on Today's World

Inquire and Investigate

by Andi Diehn, Samuel Carbaugh (Illustrations)

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Teenagers have been sighing an approximation of these words for centuries, ever since William Shakespeare had Juliet utter them from her balcony in one of the most popular plays of all time, Romeo and Juliet . Tales of love, loss, rebellion, rivalry—before there was Twilight , Warm Bodies , and The Lion King , there was Shakespeare. The characters, language, imagery, and plot elements of many books and movies that appear on bookshelves and in cinemas today are directly influenced by the plays of the Bard.

In Investigate the Bard’s Influence on Today’s World , readers discover links between the books, movies, and music they listen to today and the words that were written and acted out more than 400 years ago. Readers deconstruct Shakespearean themes, imagery, language, and meaning by finding familiar ground on which to gain literary insight. Through hands-on projects such as coding a video game based on one of Shakespeare’s plays to rewriting a scene in the text language of emoji, readers find compelling avenues into the dramatic, sometimes intimidating language, leaving them well-equipped to tackle any major text in the academic years to come.

128 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2016

About the author

Andi Diehn graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College, relied on a freelance writing career when her children were young and childcare was expensive, and now works as a children’s book editor and marketer at Nomad Press. She has written eleven nonfiction books for the educational market, and her fictional picture book on mental illness, MAMA’S DAYS, is forthcoming this year from Reycraft Books. She has six more nonfiction picture books scheduled to release over the next two years.

Andi also works as a bookseller at her local indie in rural New Hampshire, where she lives with her husband, three sons, and lots of pets.

Reviews

[Chaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

This is an engaging, accessible and interesting introduction to Shakespeare and his plays. Aimed at 12-15- year-olds, the book is a great way of making Shakespeare interesting and relevant to today, with sections that bring Shakespeare forward into today's popular culture, making connections to novels and movies that use his plays as source material. It gives a very comprehensive and short (by necessity) overview of his life and times, and delves into 4 of the plays, offering overviews, themes, timelines, activities, a cute comic-strip story, and lots of online resources and smart phone scans for students who want a multi-media Shakespeare experience.

One glaring, inexcusable misreading of Shakespeare's language needs to be mentioned (and fixed by the publishers!): in one of the comic strips, a character paraphrases the "wherefore art thou Romeo" line as "wherefore art thine brains," clearly misusing the word "wherefore" to mean "where." As the author surely must know, "wherefore" means "why"!

[Gail Sacharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes four of Shakespeare's popular plays & studies them, then compares them to modern day versions of the play themes or actual play & discusses the influence that Shakespeare's writing has had over the centuries. The plays are Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, & A Midsummer Night's Dream. There are vocabulary exercises, sidebar information, fun facts, & suggestons, & plenty of activities to try & questions/situations to think about. I enjoyed it very much.

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute little book for a quick guide to r&j, midsummer, twelfth night, and hamlet. does a great job of referencing modern adaptations. 30m read, used to get an idea of the plays before reading them. estimated audience is preteen