A Midsummer's Night Dream & Other Classic Tales of the Plays by William Shakespeare

An inspiring introduction to the intricate comedies of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, the tragedies of Hamlet and Macbeth, and the contrasting love stories of Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra. Information panels explain the terms and themes Shakespeare used, and put the stories into historical context.

William Shakespeare was born in England, in 1564, and is probably the best-known playwright and poet in the world. Even those who have never seen or read his work unknowingly use his language every day, as numerous phrases have passed into common use. His plays are enormously varied – as this book demonstrates – including histories, comedies and tragedies. Six of them are summarized here, with extracts from the original plays to encourage young readers to look at the complete texts or – even better – see them performed. Specially retold by Nicola Baxter and with sumptuous paintings by Jenny Thorne, this timeless book brings the classic plays to life in an easy-to-understand format.