Antony and Cleopatra

Shakespeare Stories #9

by Andrew Matthews, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

The stories come originally from the highly successful gift collection The Orchard Book of Shakespeare Stories. Also included are useful notes on the themes within the stories and a background to the Globe theatre. Andrew Matthews's vibrant and accessible retellings, coupled with expressive and funny illustrations by Tony Ross, provide an introduction to this important part of our cultural heritage in the most enjoyable way. Perfect for school use KS2-4, the notes highlighting themes in the specific stories will help to focus discussions.

Genres: Shakespeare, Classics, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Chapter Books

64 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2003

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

[Dream.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

به هرحال بچه ها باید از یه جایی با شکسپیر آشنا بشن. چه جایی بهتر از اینجا

[chev ۫ ꣑ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great retelling of Antony and Cleopatra for younger readers.
4/5 Interesting read
-
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[Aliyah Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

loveddd this. the story is complex there’s betrayal and forbidden relationships, a lot was happening I was very engaged the whole time (this was 50 pages long).

[Caoilinn devins · Rating 3 out of 5]

sometimes u just have to read a children’s book

[Spoons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect way for kids to start learning about Shakespeare and I personally really like this story :D

[Aida · Rating 4 out of 5]

End. 1401/2/31
4/1

[readingwithang · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

in conclusion, my students were not prepared for the events that took place in this book and neither was I.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

No matter how many times i've read about Antony & Cleopatra's love story, i always like to read about them again and again. I love how bold and noble Cleopatra was, and how devoted Antony was to her. But sometimes love cannot defeat fate, and good intention can become reason for failure - as in this story. However, this has always been an interesting story to read and to think about.

[Fatemeh Mousavi · Rating 2 out of 5]

روایت کتاب بسیار خلاصه و ناپیوسته بود. کتاب شاه‌لیر از همین سری کتاب‌ها روایت منسجم‌تر و شیواتری داشت.

[Abigail Yarwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a brilliant book - even though there is two murders! I think Shakespeare likes writing about people killing people.

[Holly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Short simplified version of Shakespeare's play. Read this ahead of studying Antony and Cleopatra for A Level English Literature. The illustrations are fantastic but the plot isn't great. This may be an abridged version but we skipped Antony and Cleopatra actually falling in love. There was no reason for why Antony was fighting Octavius Caesar. Everything felt too vague and unclear - if this is meant to introduce Shakespeare to younger children, then the author could at least cover the plot correctly
Hoping that perhaps film adaptations and the real play will be better than this.

[Florence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that it was a bit complicated( too many characters ) the same with Macbeth.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely the most disappointing Shakespeare story that I have read so far and the only one that I would say I was not too impressed with. I found the events of this story to be almost exactly the same as those that happened in real life. This brought the question to me of where is the originality? This is not the fault of Andrew Matthews as he did effectively summarize and translate the original play. It almost feels as if Shakespeare was running out of ideas and instead of coming up with a story that he invented, he had to take real-life events and make a play out of them. If this is one of your favourite stories by Shakespeare then I advise you to reconsider as it isn't a story invented purely by him and is instead a remake of events that happened in real life. When I first saw the title of this story, I assumed from the start that it would be similar to the events that happened in real life and I hoped to be proven wrong but that was not the case. In conclusion, I am fairly disappointed as this was the first Shakespeare story that I really was not too fond of.

[Ng Man Lok Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

---no spoiling included---In this story, the writer uses first person to tell the readers the story, the writer is a loyal helper and also a warrior working for Antony, who is one of the three rulers of Rome, he has the land in the East of Rome. The day of the meeting of Cleopatra, the queen of Rome, and Antony has come. Cleopatra has a gold face and black hair. They were married not long after their first meeting, but Antony had to marry Octavius, another ruler's sister because they had a contract. Antony told the writer to head back east after meeting his brothers (the other rulers) in the central of Rome. After Cleopatra has noted that, she became furious at the writer and the story continues.
I recommend this book to less sensitive people and probably teenagers. It does not have a clear moral which is different to other stories of William Shakespeare, but it is still very interesting.

[Sonja Charters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this one to study for my A Level (way back when.....)

I love shakespeare and will often come back to it and love it all over again.

This one fitted a prompt on my bookish board and I needed something I could read really quickly before the month end (my other book was never going to be done and I'd run out of time (11pm on 40th!) .... So this was perfect.

This is aimed at a younger audience and introduces them to the concept of the most famous plays by shakespeare. This one being Antony and Cleopatra.

It's actually quite amazing how much I remember after all these years but also how much is forgotten.

This book gives you a general understanding of the play before getting bogged down by the original versions when you're older and I just think they're all fantastic.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I’ve always loved the story of Cleopatra and how Mark Antony ties into it, I find Shakespeare plays hard to understand with their ‘thee art thou’ so this was a good introduction to Shakespeare written for children with illustrations, and I learnt more about Mark Antony through it, especially with the notes at the end and I liked how it had notes on the Globe Theatre! Though one criticism, I kept getting confused over Octavius being referred to as ‘Caesar’ because I associate the name with JULIUS Caesar, but it’s because he was Julius’s nephew and the ‘new’ Caesar I think? And I thought it might confuse the children this book is meant for too - I also don’t think Cleopatra REALLY killed herself with a snake, according to a documentary I watched she used regular poison, but that’s Shakespeare’s take on it, but yeah great book!

[MiR · Rating 3 out of 5]

"ابدیت در لب ها و چشمان ما بود.
خوشبختی بر پیشانی ما جا داشت.
در آن زمان ، جز فرشتگان آسمان کسی همانند او نبود"
کلئوپاترا گفت.
.
.
اول بگم راوی داستان خیلی وایب گی میداد.
دوم داستانشون حقیقیه.
سوم ، اگر رومئو و جولیت میخواد عشقی که توسط نفرت نابود شده رو نشون بده ، آنتونی و کلئوپاترا عشقی رو نشون میده که توسط فداکاری ابدیت پیدا میکنه.

[Marie · Rating 3 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.
Interesting with a lots of action but not really my cup of tea...

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. This series of adaptations for young readers is breezy and fun. This one does a fine job of capturing the sensuousness of the story. A reader wants more though - more story, more characters, more Shakespeare.

[19stockerz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleopatra married three people but overall Mark Antony was my favourite. I’ve read this book over and over again. It’s the type of book that you don’t get bored of in my opinion. I recommend this book to 10+ since it does include suicide.

[Nika Nastaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son's loved it and while reading it out loud you could hear they were feeling the book .
They really enjoy it and because the book is short it was a perfect book for before sleep stories where they were able to finish it on the go :)

[Carmel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. A quick course to learn about Antony and Cleopatra.

Beautifully illustrated by Tony Ross though.

[Amber Kreis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, quick read for our family read aloud. Gives my older two an insight of what's to come when they read Shakespeare later on.

[Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was interested mainly in the setting of this story although I did like it over all too.

[Anu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone can read this regardless of age group. Furnishes enough details without missing out the major parts.

[Tanya Rashid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it after my 8 year old brought it back from school for her ar reader level. She understood it well enough and I think it was a good book to get kids into the start of reading Shakespeare :-)

[Liselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite of the bunch so far!

[Billy Loft · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok

[Benj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice summary for kids. Great and dramatic story set amidst the Roman Empire and the struggle to control it.

[William Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit like Romeo and Juliet but I liked it.