THE Classic Author

William Shakespeare of course! Ever since I held my first Shakespeare book when I was a freshman in high school (Assumption San Lorenzo), I fell in love with this bard. That first book was Julius Caesar. We were made to memorize the speech of either Marc Antony or Brutus and then declaim in front of the entire class. I'm pretty sure I chose Marc Antony, and his (in)famous speech started with "Friends, Romans, Countrymen.....I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him...." Or maybe it was Brutus? I can't remember...but I DO remember that speech, and I got a grade of Outstanding for it, too!

And so my love affair with William Shakespeare started. In my senior year at Immaculate Heart, in my Advanced Placement Language Class, we were asked to write a paper on the application of Shakespeare of LIGHT in his most famous romance novel, Romeo and Juliet. "Oh Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?" :)

And who would have thought I'd end up marrying a Romeo? Hehehe.

Back to Romeo and Juliet. I feverishly read and re-read the novel from cover to cover, writing down and citing several instances where Shakespeare applied light in the novel. It was enough to fill up at least 8 pages worth of citations and explanations. The day our teacher returned our papers, she gave out everything except mine. I was sick to my stomach, thinking that maybe I had forgotten to put quotation marks somewhere and she'd have me for plagiarizing!!! Ack!

To my surprise, our teacher told our entire class that she just HAD to read this particular paper (I still didn't know it was mine, dunce that I was, hehehe) because it was just so very inspiring and well written......she had barely finished the first paragraph when a thrill shot through me: She was reading MY paper! MY PAPER!!!! :)

And so my love affair with William Shakespeare continued.

I wanted to impart to the kids this love of Shakespeare for the longest time....but I had difficulty finding a book that was in plain English, not the thee, thou, thy of the Olden English language. I wanted a simple, straightforward book that would tell the story without need for a dictionary or a thesaurus at hand.

So when I spied this particular book at our nearby National Bookstore, I just HAD to purchase it!
The Illustrated Tales from Shakespeare, A Modern Adaptation from the Charles and Mary Lamb Classic.

I am now reading through it and re-living my love affair with THE William Shakespeare. Then I'm going to have the kids read it. This particular version is written for the 9-12 year range after all. But obviously, I have GOT to know the stories very well so as to be able to discuss it (here on my blog and) with the kids.

Happy Reading!