Customer Reviews

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderfully illustrated retelling of some of the Tales. It even includes snatches of Middle English in the artwork, which my children found fascinating. BUT BE WARNED: Chaucer is known for bawdiness, and this book has not been cleaned-up and made as child-friendly as some might expect. There is A LOT of farting, naked bottoms, and bed-hopping. The farting isn't really a problem (the kids love it, as did Chaucer, obviously), but The Reeve's Tale is really not adaptable to children, and should probably have been left out. This aside, it's a terrific book.

Marcia Williams presents these tales in such a way to entice, make it readable for the young....it just brilliant. The illustrations are just exquisite.

My pre-reader son loved this book. Its a comic book version of Cnaterbury Tales with wonderful art. Two of the stories revolve around farts. Its a beautiful thing. He carried it around with him for days, and still tells the stories.

Marcia Williams' CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES uses a cartoon-book format and easier language to translate the Middle Ages to grades 3-5. Nine travelers take turns swapping stories in this lively retelling of classics from the Tales: an unusual and perfect literary introduction for the lower grade levels.

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.

Marcia Williams' series is a wonderful way to introduce erudite topics to a young child. I have an 8 year old boy who is an avid reader, and is currently completely enthralled with the Percy Jackson series. With all of the Greek and Roman mythology, my child has devoured Marcia William's mythology and Illiad/Odyssey books. The illustrations are tasteful, accurate and pleasing to the eye. The summaries strike just the right balance of being readable and accurate. I highly recommend this series to anyone wanting to push the horizons of their little ones (or even themselves). My son is just starting the Shakespeare books and he's into them! I can't wait to discuss the plays with him! I have read this one and enjoyed it much more than my high school experience with Chaucer.

I use this with my Sixth Graders for a Storytelling unit. It definitely takes the intimidation factor out of this classic work.

We started (my 10 yr. old son and myself) to read this book with high hopes but when we got to the naked bottoms, farts, etc.. we put it down. This definitely should not be in the children's section of the library.