Working in a school library last week I spied this book - actually it jumped off the shelf because I was working in the 398s (folklore and fairytales) but in my mind this book should perhaps have been on the 822.33 shelf. Only librarians or teacher-librarian will have any clue what I am talking about here. I also noticed the illustrator James Mayhew and since I am a fan of his work I was keen to explore this book further. Naturally I borrowed this book immediately.
A few years ago my Primary school invited The Bell Shakespeare company to perform for our Grade Five students. Their play text was Just Macbeth by Andy Griffiths so the teachers on the grade (wisely) decided to use this as an opportunity to introduce a little Shakespeare, especially but not exclusively, the play of Macbeth.
So as the Teacher-Librarian I set about acquiring as many young reader versions of Shakespeare as I could find and after couple of years I am able to boast we had a rather wonderful shelf or two filled with these books. Sadly we didn't have this splendid book by Patrick Ryan.
Shakespeare's Storybook is not new (published in 2001) but it is fabulous and I am certain it must have taken years to research and write. In fact I hope Patrick Ryan used all this work towards a PhD - yes it is that good! In fact after a little research I now discover I am right and Patrick Ryan does have a PhD - here is his web site. You can see him in action on this page.
The original publication of this book came with two CDs - I wish I could hear them - they would be a terrific resource. Sadly this book is now out of print.
Later editions of this book had a different cover but I much prefer the original:
Here is a list of the stories in this book:
The Devil's Bet (The Taming Of The Shrew)
The Hill Of Roses (Romeo And Juliet)
A Bargain Is A Bargain (The Merchant Of Venice)
Snowdrop (As You Like It)
Ashboy (Hamlet)
Cap-O-Rushes (King Lear)
The Flower Princess (The Winter's Tale)
In this book you will discover the origins or possible origins of these seven famous plays by Shakespeare. Naturally we cannot sit down and talk to William Shakespeare but from all the research by Patrick Ryan and others I am sure too, it seems William Shakespeare heard all sorts of stories and he used them as inspiration for his plays.
To quote from the introduction:
"William Shakespeare was one of the best storytellers in the world. ... But he did not usually make up the stories that he told. He took popular stories and made them into poems and plays. Sometimes he wrote a play so that it followed the story exactly as he first heard it or read it. Sometimes he changed the story to make a completely new version. ... The audiences in Shakespeare's time knew the stories, books and poems that he based his plays upon. But today most people have forgotten them."
At the back of the book, Patrick Ryan lists many of his sources and he includes a further reading list for children. Here are a few of the books from former school library and you could also look at this collection for young children compiled by my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything. In my next post I will share a brand new book - Shakespeare for everyone by Emma Roberts (Magic Cat Publishing).
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