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Shakespeare: Great English Playwright & Poet
Book by Carew-Miller, Anna
32 pages, Library Binding
First published March 1, 2002
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2021
These two stars are for the illustrations alone. They are incredible! So detailed and pretty! I think the illustrator did a fantastic job.
The writing, however... not so much. There was no energy or interest in it whatsoever.
It made me laugh when explaining how boys played the parts of women on stage because 'women could not act in those days.'
If a children's book lost the interest of an adult with its writing I think a child would struggle.
The writing, however... not so much. There was no energy or interest in it whatsoever.
It made me laugh when explaining how boys played the parts of women on stage because 'women could not act in those days.'
If a children's book lost the interest of an adult with its writing I think a child would struggle.
March 22, 2024
Story within a story excellent history of William Shakespeare! Timeline of works in the end matter.
October 11, 2012
So far most of the books in the Great Names series have been well-written and good introductory biographies for elementary students. This one, however, seemed to fall short of the others and not be a good example of quality writing for students.
First of all, there is absolutely no punctuation on the titles of any of the plays, books or poems mentioned in the book. They are simply capitalized, but aren't given the correct formatting (no italics or quotation marks for titles). Not a great example for learning students.
Secondly, there was a glaring mistake in the book. It told the reader "this was when Shakespeare wrote King Lear", on two different pages (which means two different time periods). The first one was wrong.
Thirdly, the introduction and conclusion involve a little boy in more modern times whose father is acting in a play at the modern Globe. In the introduction the little boy falls through a trap door and then we launch into Shakespeare's history. Now, I can see why they would do this if the little boy had been transported to Shakespeare's time and was telling the story, but after those first two pages there is no sign of him until the last pages where we are abruptly pulled back to the present. I think both of those could have been left off. They added absolutely nothing to the book.
Fourthly, the layout makes the book harder to read. I think it would have been better if the text weren't in columns.
I did like the illustrations that were fun and creative. I also liked the nice timeline in the back of the book showing when each of Shakespeare's literary pieces came out. Overall, I think this book could use a little editing and then be republished, and it would be a nice story about Shakespeare for elementary kids.
First of all, there is absolutely no punctuation on the titles of any of the plays, books or poems mentioned in the book. They are simply capitalized, but aren't given the correct formatting (no italics or quotation marks for titles). Not a great example for learning students.
Secondly, there was a glaring mistake in the book. It told the reader "this was when Shakespeare wrote King Lear", on two different pages (which means two different time periods). The first one was wrong.
Thirdly, the introduction and conclusion involve a little boy in more modern times whose father is acting in a play at the modern Globe. In the introduction the little boy falls through a trap door and then we launch into Shakespeare's history. Now, I can see why they would do this if the little boy had been transported to Shakespeare's time and was telling the story, but after those first two pages there is no sign of him until the last pages where we are abruptly pulled back to the present. I think both of those could have been left off. They added absolutely nothing to the book.
Fourthly, the layout makes the book harder to read. I think it would have been better if the text weren't in columns.
I did like the illustrations that were fun and creative. I also liked the nice timeline in the back of the book showing when each of Shakespeare's literary pieces came out. Overall, I think this book could use a little editing and then be republished, and it would be a nice story about Shakespeare for elementary kids.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews