"The reader is invited to make a fanciful visit with Shakespeare at his Stratford house and garden and to savor the rich texture of his words," writes Koscielniak (Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather) at the start of this breezy if slightly fragmented roundup of brief quotations from the Bard. As Shakespeare tends his garden, neighbors and a troupe of traveling players address him with questions or comments, answered with a surfeit of snippets from the scribe's plays. The appealingly hand-lettered responses, loosely connected to the subject at hand, appear in cartoon-style balloons, which playfully attribute the words to rabbits, mice and other animals while a silent Shakespeare stands by. When the actors, en route to London to perform for the queen, discover that the rain has washed away the words of their script, they ask the obliging Shakespeare to "write for us some jolly new play." Impressively, the dialogue balloons don't interrupt the story line; rather, they act as a sort of chorus. The work accordingly lends itself to reading aloud, so that Shakespeare's musicality shines through. Definitions of words that might baffle kids (e.g., "airs," "mirth," "masque") and notes on Elizabethan theatrical customs are also set into the sunny, full-bleed ink-and-watercolor art. To borrow a quip the author quotes from Love's Labour's Lost, "Tu-who! a merry note..." that Koscielniak strikes. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4AWhat a jolly introduction to the Bard. Will Shakespeare is working in his garden in Stratford when a troupe of players comes into town. A rainstorm hits and part of their script is washed out so Shakespeare must create a new comedy on the spot. As he finishes, the Queen just happens to pass through the village in her royal coach to see if the playwright has any new plays to take to London. She approves the new work and all is well. Visually, this is a very appealing creation, and there's a lot going on in these busy pages. As seen in Koscielniak's ink-and-watercolor drawings, Mr. Shakespeare is a friendly guy, the players cavort in a variety of homemade costumes, and bugs and animals stroll by the roadside and chime in with appropriate quotes. Hand done by the author, even the lettering is inviting. The sometimes awkward text, set off in boxes, is the weakest element in the melange that includes many fitting short quotes from the plays (identified by play, act, and scene) and several helpful explanations and definitions. Since only the barest outline of Shakespeare's life is recorded history (most of which is hand lettered onto the attractive endpapers along with a complete play list), such highly unlikely imaginings just dance around the facts. Nonetheless, pleasurable first experiences such as this may help to ward off defensive reactions when the plays are seen or studied later.ASally Margolis, Barton Public Library, VT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews