Beautiful Shakespeare

Edith Nesbit re-tells the stories of William Shakespeare's plays, making them accessible to children, while evoking the drama and excitement of the originals.

Famed author E. Nesbit ( The Railway Children) brings 20 of Shakespeare's plays to life in language that children can understand. They are entertaining narratives that describe the Bard's main characters and often intricate plots. Each story provides a concise overview for anyone about to experience a Shakespeare play for the first time.

Shakespeare wrote for grown-up people, for men and women, and in words that little folks cannot understand. Hence Nesbit's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare: to reproduce the entertaining stories contained in the plays of Shakespeare, in a form so simple that children can understand and enjoy them.

In presenting this selection of the Bard's stories to children, Edith Nesbit hopes to entice her young audience to read them in their later years when they can more appreciate the magic and richness of the language. Selections include: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Tempest", "As You Like It", "The Winter's Tale", "King Lear", "Twelfth Night", "Romeo and Juliet", "Pericles", "Hamlet", "Cymbeline" and "The Taming of the Shrew".