King of Shadows (New Windmills S.) [Hardcover]

Susan Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2001 | Series: New Windmills S.

At the end of the 20th century, a teenage actor in " A Midsummer Night's Dream" goes back in time - and comes face to face with Shakespeare himself...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cooper (The Dark Is Rising) brilliantly weaves past and present together, using London's Globe Theatre as backdrop, to demonstrate the timelessness of Shakespeare's works and the theater at large. The first segment of the novel, set in the present, details Nathan Field's rehearsals for the part of Puck in an upcoming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, to be mounted in the newly renovated Globe. He has been chosen, along with a group of other boys from America, to travel to England for the performance. When Nat is suddenly stricken with a serious illness, he awakens to find himself once again cast as Puck at the Globe Theatre, but the year is 1599. Cooper meticulously conveys Nat's impressions of the sights, sounds, smells and textures of Elizabethan England. She is equally adept at evoking the boy's respect and awe for his "new" director, the bard himself. Shakespeare, cast as a wise, intuitive father figure, takes orphaned Nat under his wing. In return, Nat saves the playwright's life by unknowingly changing the natural course of history. Through the boy's relationship with "Will," as Nat calls him, Cooper deftly reveals Nat's unresolved feelings about his own deceased father. The judicious use of quotes from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets will awaken in novices an interest in his works and command respect from seasoned fans. Fascinating details of 16th-century troupe life as well as how costumes, make-up and stage effects were carried out add depth and layers to the depiction of life 400 years ago. An unexpected, appropriately enigmatic ending brings this masterful novel to a closeAand brings home the resounding message that the show must go on. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Orphan Nat Field is chosen as part of an American theater group to perform at the new Globe Theatre in London. Nat's big role will be Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, his debut is pushed 400 years into the past when he is put to bed with a high fever and wakes up in Elizabethan England. Forced to adapt or be discovered, Nat figures out his situation quickly with judicious questions that result in naturally occurring explanations of the times, the plays, and the theater. The time-travel element is well constructed. Through occasional flashes to the present, readers learn that a boy presumed to be Nat is being treated for bubonic plague. Nat Field has switched places with the infected Nathan Field, who is just about to arrive at the old Globe on loan from another company-thus, thanks to modern medicine, Shakespeare and his plays are saved for the ages. Something in the boy attracts the attention of Will himself and Nat soon becomes his prot?g?. The father/son relationship between the two fills a need for Nat, whose suppressed sorrow at his father's suicide after his mother's death is finally expressed. The circumstances of his father's death and Nat's reluctance to deal with it are hinted at rather clumsily in the beginning of the book and dispatched succinctly when finally addressed, and come off as clearly secondary to the involving theater experiences. Still, Cooper's readers and fans of Gary Blackwood's Shakespeare Stealer (Dutton, 1998) will revel in the hurly-burly of rehearsals and the performance before the queen, the near discoveries, the company rivalries, and some neatly drawn parallels.
Sally Margolis, Barton Public Library, VT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann Educ. (February 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0435125389
• ISBN-13: 978-0435125387
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,107,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SUSAN COOPER is best known for her acclaimed sequence of fantasy novels known as The Dark Is Rising which includes OVER SEA, UNDER STONE; THE DARK IS RISING (1974 Newbery Honor book); GREENWITCH; THE GREY KING (1976 Newbery Award book); and SILVER ON THE TREE. Her novels for young readers also include VICTORY, GREEN BOY, KING OF SHADOWS, THE BOGGART and its sequel THE BOGGART AND THE MONSTER, SEAWARD and DAWN OF FEAR. She has written books for younger children as well, including the Celtic retellings THE SILVER COW, THE SELKIE GIRL, and TAM LIN, all illustrated by Warwick Hutton, and FROG, illustrated by Jane Browne. In collaboration with actor Hume Cronyn, she wrote the Broadway play Foxfire and--for Jane Fonda--the television film The Dollmaker, for which they received the Humanitas Prize in 1985. Born in Buckinghamshire, England, Susan Cooper moved to the United States in 1963 and now lives in Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Shakesperean time-travel fantasy, September 18, 2000

By 

Sheila L. Beaumont (South Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: King of Shadows (Hardcover)

Nat Field, an actor in the American Company of Boys, goes to London with the troupe to play the role of Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the new Globe Theatre. Suddenly, he is transported back in time to 1599 London and finds himself portraying Puck at the original Globe. Not only that, he's performing with Will Shakespeare himself, who is playing Oberon! The author brings the sights, sounds and smells of Elizabethan London to life and takes us behind the scenes of the Bard's own production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." After reading this, you'll probably want to read the play and see a performance yourself. Susan Cooper, who was a student of J.R.R. Tolkien, is an outstanding writer and storyteller. Don't miss her magnum opus, the five-book "The Dark Is Rising" series.

46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts on King of Shadows . . ., December 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: King of Shadows (Hardcover)

This an extemely well written and well developed story. The plot leaves you with so much to think about: the growing relation between Nat (the main character) and Shakespeare (hopefully you know who that is!), and many other things left unsettled. I, a thirteen-year-old girl who is addicted to reading, am always looking for a good, thought-provoking, sometimes humorous, and "real" (not some cheap-o series with 100 pages each about some teenager losing her boyfriend) book, and King of Shadows meets and exceeds my requirements. If you like sience-fiction, or books about ordinary kids in not-so-ordinary situations, e.g. transported back in time, then READ THIS BOOK. Madeline L'Engle fans will love this too.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars King of Shadows, January 23, 2002

By 

"salinascowgirl" - See all my reviews

This review is from: King of Shadows (Hardcover)

This was the best book I've read to date, and I'm serious (I don't mean that it's on a list of about five hundred other books that I think are good, I mean this is the number one book on my list).

The story documents the tale of Nat, a young actor travelling to London with a group of kids from all over the US in a play company who are going to perform Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Julius Caesar at the Globe. But when he gets sick with a terrible fever, he finds himself transported into the London in 1599 when the Globe was new and William Shakespeare is alive!

It is told in first person through the eyes of the protagonist, Nat, and it tells not only, in detail, about the feelings he gets when he finds out where (or when) he is. It's not just another fall down the rabbit hole type of book, and it's not really fantasy. It describes in rich detail the play company and the city of London in 1599 from the point of view of a young character who has been plagued by death in his life. If you love Shakespeare like I do, you'll absolutely love this book. Even if you don't, you'll still love this book. It was full of meaning, yet the story is layered in a way that can be understood by younger readers as well as on a deeper level by adults.

This is a great book and definately worth reading.