The Play"s The Thing: The Plays of William Shakespeare is aimed at a YA (young adult) audience as an introduction to the greatest plays ever written. Direct and personal and decidedly non academic, each play gets its own essay, giving the reader an overview of the play with an emphasis on the relevance that the play has to the reader"s own life and concerns. As I wrote in the introduction, "The goal of this guide, then, is to turn Shakespeare from somebody you have to read into somebody that you want to read."A young man struggles with his father s unexpected death. A young couple pledges their love to each other despite their families angry disapproval. A young man rebels against his father while at the same time craving his approval. A father and his family roam across what appears to be a post apocalyptic dystopian landscape. A Roman general kills the sons of his enemy and serves them to her baked in a pie. Two young couples escape into a forest where magic rules and nothing is quite what it seems. A group of young men decide to give up on women and dating in order to devote themselves to their studies, until a group of beautiful young women changes their minds. The latest YA novels While they certainly sound like they can be, they re not. They re just one way of looking at some of the plays of William Shakespeare (to be precise, Hamlet, Romeo amp; Juliet, Henry IV Parts I amp; 2, King Lear, Love s Labour s Lost) that shows that they re not just old school classic plays – they re old school classic plays that tell stories that are relevant to my life, to your lives, and to the way we all live today.These are stories of love. Of families. Of fathers and sons. Of the rise and fall of kings. Of what it s like to grow old. Of what it s like to love someone so much it hurts. Of treachery and revenge. Of ambition. Of jealousy. Of forgiveness. Of murder. Almost every human experience you can think of is brought to life in these plays. Which is why, for more than 400 years, they have been seen as the central glory of Western literature.And that s also why the plays of William Shakespeare are, on a daily basis, performed on stages around the world. The stories he told, the characters he created, are universal. Audiences in China, in Ghana, in India, in Brazil, in every part of the world, can appreciate and love Shakespeare as much as the British and Americans."Rich, persuasive and brimming with infectious enthusiasm… Even the most reluctant YA students will come away with a greater understanding – and richer appreciation – not only of Shakespeare s plays but of his poetic imagination."Steve Cole, author of Young Bond“Amazing, a fantastic book that will encourage young people to take another look at the works of Shakespeare”. David G. McAfee, author of "Disproving Christianity and other Secular Writings", "Mom, Dad, I"m an Atheist", and "The Belief Book". FIRST VOLUME:Índex IntroductionWho Was Shakespeare The Plays Love Stories Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Love s Labour s Lost Much Ado About Nothing Romeo and Juliet The Taming of the Shrew . Twelfth Night Fairy Tales A Midsummer Night s Dream Cymbeline The Merry Wives of Windsor Pericles The Tempest Timon of Athens The Winter s Tale SECOND VOLUME:Índex IntroductionWho Was Shakespeare The PlaysFamily Dramas Coriolanus Hamlet Fun Facts King Lear Fun Facts Macbeth Fun Facts Othello Titus Andronicus Fun Facts Politics and War Richard II Henry IV Parts One and Two Fun Facts Henry V Henry VI, Parts 1 3 Richard III King John Julius Caesar Troilus and Cressida Black Comedy All s Well That Ends Well Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice Fun Facts Two Gentlemen of Verona Glossary Bibliography
