Romeo and Juliet for Kids (Shakespeare Can Be Fun!)

As a Shakespeare teacher (to college students) I wanted to introduce the plays to my seven year old son in an accessible and age appropriate way. Burdett's books work for three reasons 1) She retells the tales in rhyme--children will immediately connect with the musicality of verse 2) She maintains the integrity of the original play --yes, we get characterizations true to Shakespeare's themes though the plot is considerably condensed 3) She captures the emotional dynamics of love, conflict, even death in a way that is honest but with softer edges for a child's intellect.4) Okay, I said three but one of the more charming aspects of the series are the drawings from child readers expressing their vision of the play's characters and themes. My son always responded to the art and felt inspired that many of the artists-readers were his age. Great job Lois Burdett. Thank you!

My 5-year-old daughter loves this book. Although the book is intended for children slightly older than she is, she follows and is engaged with the story, and she enjoys practicing her reading with most of the easier words in the book. The rhyming and rhythm throughout the book is great (I don't think that it's iambic pentameter, though I haven't actually counted it out). My daughter also liked the pictures drawn by other children in the book. This is still Romeo and Juliet, though, so I had to explain to her what was happening in the book as character after character died, but I'm glad that this book still conveys that part of the story rather than glazing over/significantly altering this piece of literature. Overall, my daughter repeatedly requests to read this book, and that tells me that this book does what I want it to do...keep a young reader interested in reading.

My girls, ages 9 and 11, loved listening to me read this! This was my first delve into Shakespeare as a homeschool teacher and I have already ordered another book in the series.The author did a fantastic job making the story understandable. I am now going to read to them the full Romeo and Juliet play.My girls really liked reading what the kids wrote in the authors class. They laughed a lot!

This is a great book to help my Freshman understand what Shakespeare was really saying in his old English ways. The modern language and young children's drawings really helped them. We read this modern version right before the quizzes and even my ESL and low performing students got it!

My eight year old son and I took turns reading the pages of Romeo and Juliet. He and I both were excited and interested in the story not that we were reading and learning great Shakespeare. ( a very nice way to sneak in great works of art) This series of Shakespeare for children books is an excellent way to introduce your younger children ( especially boys) to a little more sophistocated literature without any fuss.

I bought Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth for my five year old and he really likes them. They are illustrated with drawings by children and include little interpretations by them on every page which really interests my son. He likes to know the names and ages of the kids who contributed and enjoys seeing their actual class photograph at the end of book. We read it together and the mix of Shakespearean writing with the kids writing is a good balance. I will be buying the rest of the series.

Great kids book. Bought this book for primary school kids. They love it!

This is an excellent series for children, particularly from first through fifth grade. My daughter is beginning to ask for these for birthday and Christmas

This book is a great introduction to Shakespeare and is aimed more at KS2 children (years 3-6) but can be used in KS1 (years 1&2) with some of the more advanced students, It is written entirely in rhyme to make it more memorable and exciting and the drawings in the book help provide visual aids for children that struggle to read. All the pictures are drawn by children which helps others relate to them. One of the best things about this book is that the language is not as difficult as the other Shakespeare texts meaning that children can gain a better understanding of what is going on. It is also not as long as the texts children study in Secondary School which helps children maintain interest in it. I bought this book for a special needs establishment and found it incredibly useful because it helped simplify the story whilst not losing any of the plot or magic. I have only given 4 stars however because I believe it to be more useful in a mainstream school and did not quite meet all of our SEN requirements.

To like or not to like? We liked it.

Fantastic creative way to introduce child to Shakespeare

Great as it rhymes all the way through

To help my granddaughter's school project