Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

by Marcia Williams (Illustrator)

Williams retells nine favorite Canterbury tales in her witty, engaging comic-strip style. Includes The Clerk's Tale, The Miller's Tale, and The Wife of Bath's Tale. Full color.

Genres: Classics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Childrens, Picture Books, Medieval, Historical Fiction

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 9, 2007

About the author

Marcia Williams began to develop her distinctive comic-book style at an early age: "When I was about ten and wrote home to my family from boarding school," she says, "I never wrote normal letters. I tried to tell my family about what I was doing in a way that was more fun. Also, my parents didn't let me read comic books, so I decided to create my own."

This former nursery school teacher blends her storytelling skills and humorous illustrations with well-known figures and stories from literature. Her unique style has produced such vivid works and action-packed books as GOD AND HIS CREATIONS: TALES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. "Working on the Old Testament was a joy," Marcia Williams says. "The tales are so rich, it is always possible to find something new within them. Yet, at the same time, they have all the comfort of the familiar." The artist also found pleasure in creating CHARLES DICKENS AND FRIENDS, which presents five retellings of classic Dickens tales. Of her inspiration for this book, she tells of a teacher she once had "who was extremely fierce and angry . . . except when she read the stories of Charles Dickens aloud. Through her, all his characters lived, and I was transported to their Victorian world. I hope that readers will also enter the wonderful world of Charles Dickens through this book."


With BRAVO, MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE! and TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE Marcia Williams introduces young readers to the world of William Shakespeare's plays. Another classic she has made much more accessible to children--and more appreciated by them--is THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY. "My mother read me classics, but until I got older I never found them interesting," she says. "If I could make these stories more accessible, I realized, kids wouldn't have to wait until they were grown-up to appreciate them."


Marcia Williams traveled extensively as a child and was educated in Sussex, England, and Switzerland. During her varied career she has worked as an interior designer and has assisted cartoon artist and designer Gerald Scarfe in making papier-mâché and cloth sculptures.

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

Put your spectacles on or get a magnifying glass because the words in this Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are very small and old English. I liked the modern narrative story and the crude illustrations.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canterbury Tales are a bit bawdy.This is a version adapted for children. Some of the thematic elements just can't be avoided! And humor during the middle ages included potty humor (read: tooting and whatnot). That being said, I thought this was done appropriately and the girls think it is HYSTERICAL. For some reason, I find the bits of low brow humor much more acceptable given the fact that they are true to the period/stories and thus my girls are being exposed to a classic piece at their level. (I usually read the originals, because I love the trickle down effect--but Canterbury tales would really not hold their attention for them to get much out of the original...and I'd have to do a lot of editing on the fly as reading aloud) We read a story or two at a time and they BEG to read more each day. Gives us lots to discuss.

The reason I am giving it 5 stars is that it has made Canterbury Tales so accessible to young children--and we had to pay a $3 fine because my kids did not want to give this back! "Just one more story! Just one more time!" and we had already maxed out our renews.

[Michelle Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively retelling of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for children with plenty of illustrations and a bit of Medieval English thrown in.

[Crys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcia Williams does an amazing retelling of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

She brings to fruition Chaucer's tales for children while staying true to the tales themselves. The illustrations are absolutely amazing. She is clever with interweaving the original next throughout as well, taking on a bit of a satirical tone for an older audience.

While the book is geared toward a younger audience, this book truly is for anyone at any age. The older the reader, the more he/she will appreciate the detail Williams takes with the illustrations. Children will laugh, adults will laugh, it is a win/win children's book.

I used this picture book with my seniors as a way to show how stories through pictures can be more powerful than with just words. This book inspired a lesson in which students took one of the tales and did a retelling of their own using school-appropriate illustrations and words from the text that summarized the tale in ten boxes.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I supposedly read The Canterbury Tales in high school, but I remember absolutely zero. Marcia Williams's book is so great, not only because of the great illustrations and graphic novel style, but because most of it is in plain English and entirely understandable!! Aha! Some of these tales ARE actually funny!

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please write more of these for old classics! This was such a fun way to understand a rather difficult piece of literature. My kids were absolutely enthralled and wanted to understand all the hilarious nuances of Chaucer’s story. Who knew he was so funny? This is one of my favorite children’s book reads this year for classics.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great retelling of a handful of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with comic-strip style pictures to help show what's happening, and modern language to explain the story. Also, bits of the original text in the cartoon.

[Laura Hattersley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enchanting!

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely collection of folk tales. I just love how Marcia Williams lays out her story, it is like a comic but the story is written underneath as well. I own four of her great stories.

[Yan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations and a simple yet engaging retelling of the Canterbury tales. Some of the original language is preserved which helps the reader compare middle English with modern English.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun introduction to Chaucer. His bawdy, odd or frightening tales are re-told appropriately, and keep Chaucer’s humour.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a re-telling of some of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for children. I liked the illustrations for the stories. The selection of the tales was slated to the "potty humor" tales from Chaucer. The author did a clever re-telling of the stories...which are extremely bawdy, but I'm not a huge fan of "potty jokes" for children. They don't need any encouragement in those areas. It might even be more entertaining for teens. But, the treatment of simplifying the tales was fairly well done for youths.

[Lindsey Rojem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for the "A Book On The Mensa Reading List For Grades 9-12" part of my 2020 reading challenge. I didn't like it. I've never read the full Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and now I'm not sure I want to. I didn't like the artwork in this, and the stories were all kind of bland.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 3 stars is different than most. It is not exactly how much I enjoyed the content. There are more fart jokes than something written by a 7th grader. The Canterbury Tales are something to laugh at rather than with. I enjoy them as an interesting view into culture at the time rather than as stories. Kind of like an old painting that isn't extremely attractive in its own right, but interesting as a piece in the chain of art history.

I also gave it 3 stars because I love getting my brain around the language again. The stories are told in succinctly summarized modern language as captions, but the characters speak a little middle English in their speech bubbles in the comic frames. I had to read a little of this in a linguistics class in college and I just love studying the language differences.

The pictures and brief versions of the stories make this accessible, but I wouldn't want to even go there with my jr. high kids. It could be useful in some context with older students.

Overall, I'm glad my mom lent me to the book, but I won't be hurrying to read it again.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the original Canterbury Tales in high school and didn't understand a thing. I was itching to read it again, but wasn't sure I was in the mood to get through it. By chance, I saw this in the children's section of the library. FANTASTIC. Pictures are interesting (comic book style), stories are easy to read, and she even includes some of the original prose within the comic stips. Got through it in an hour. And now, if I read the original, I think I might actually be able to follow the story line.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Story of the World, Vol II.

This book seems well done for the niche it is trying to fill. My daughter, (age 9) didn't get the stories though - even with the wonderful "real english" translations. She is just not sophisticated enough in her knowledge of the human existence, male/female interactions, etc. You can dumb down the language for us simpletons, but the plots still revolve around mature humor - and it just didn't work for us right now. Highschoolers would no-doubt prefer this version to what they are reading in their textbooks!

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book with humorous illustrations, bawdy tales and intricate words and pictures woven throughout the story. I'm not sure that it's completely appropriate for children, but the stories are mostly harmless. I remember reading Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in High School, but I didn't remember how funny they were. While the stories are written in contemporary English, some of the dialogue in the cartoon frames are written in Ye Olde English. Very entertaining!

[Brad Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read Marcia Williams's edition of the Canterbury Tales, but I have read the tales before. The tales have a literary depth that is unmatched in most written works, allowing for diverse complex understandings of the text. It would be hard to find many of the subtleties of the work without having an indepth knowledge of the issues of Dark Ages England. I was lucky enough to have a Chaucer schollar teach the Canterbury Tales.

[Roxanne Hsu Feldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just pure delight. I adore all the side comments on the "side bars" by birds, fairies, gargoyles, snakes, and others. And of course, her simple way of telling the stories and the use of old English spellings within the comic strip panels. Hmm... can this be considered a Graphic Novel, as well?

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book! This would be wonderful to teach in a classroom of any age. Williams has taken some of the more famous tales and illustrated them in a simple style that conveys the story very well, and allows room for more commentary in the margins of the pages. Lots to look at on each page, and readers should take their time and enjoy this one.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

With funny, busy illustrations around the edges of the amusing comic strip retelling of nine Canterbury Tales, this has the context and bawdy humor of the originals which match the level of many children, though some parents would not approve. A fun, quick way to understand to get the gist of Canterbury Tales and a taste of the original language in the edge illustrations.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved Canterbury Tales. When I saw this version in the public library, I just had to revisit the material. I'm so glad I did. The colorful, comic strip style format in this book made each presented story come alive in a whole new way. I will certainly be introducing my kids to this book as a prep.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happened to skip a couple of grades of school, and perhaps that is how I missed out on some classic literature. I found the best way to introduce myself to these subjects are to read the juvenile versions. This was fabulous.
Each of the stories were told in both olde English and modern English in a comic book style. Right up my alley.
Thanks Chaucer and Ms Williams.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great illustrated version for kids, teens and adults! Williams uses a comic strip style with humorous illustrations with fun text and sidebars to make Chaucer's tales more understandable and interesting for kids and teens.

[Linda Orvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow I'd neglected this book through my reading years. In a way I was glad because I truly appreciated reading Chaucer as a mature adult. For one thing, I understood the bawdy humor! I hope to read this again one day.

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can't go wrong with Marcia Williams. My children love her books and she has made Shakepeare, Homer, and a host of other classics exciting for my children. Whenever I check out her books they are the first ones my children grab and they never get old.

[Kermit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canterbury Tales as a graphic novel. It's wonderful and very approachable. I love the comments of the birds on the sides of each page. The characters in many of the illustrations who are using Chaucer's original words are just grand. :-)

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for two undergrad oourses. Then I taught The Pardoner's Tale to seniors. It's a great snapshot of the world during this time period. And, Chaucer was clever in choosing to use the technique of people sharing stories while on a pilgrimage.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly enjoyable illustrated retelling of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It's obviously geared towards kids, but even an "older kid" like me found it to be quite pleasurable. Ms. Williams is to be congratulated on both her illustrations and for staying true to the tales.

[Tobey · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute and enjoyable! I loved the Miller's Tale. This book makes me want to re-read the original.