Reviews: (by author)

Williams, Marcia. Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare! Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2000. $16.99. ISBN 0-7636-1209-X.

Williams, Marcia. Tales from Shakespeare. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 1998. $16.99. ISBN 0-7636-0441-0.

Shakespeare as you've never seen him before, or perhaps more accurately than his works have been presented before—Marcia Williams abridges 14 plays (7 per picturebook) and displays them visually, like a gestalt of what not only the plays but the play going experience was like back in the days of the Globe. Each page tells three stories: minimal text from the plays accompanies Williams' bright, distinct watercolor frames of key events; beneath these illustrations is a textual summary of the plot; and—uniquely-- running around the margins of each page in a sequence are pictures of the playgoers of Elizabethan times, buying nuts, making wisecracks about the characters, arguing with each other—just as the groundlings would have done. Readers are invited in "Where's Waldo" fashion to find Queen Elizabeth and The Bard among the spectators. Williams provides background for contemporary readers in an Introduction and on the front flap of the book cover. Her humorous, cartoon-like illustrations are informal but beautifully designed and executed. One's feelings about this adaptation will depend on how strictly one thinks the Bard's work should be represented; sticklers may be dismayed—but the rest of us will enjoy and reread this lively, engaging presentation for young readers. I do note, however, that no matter how they're presented, the material in, say, King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet are not kiddie stories; to her credit, Williams does not change the plots—but be prepared to do some explaining of tragedy.

Alida Allison, October 2003

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