11/15/10

Junior Thespians

My kids have discovered Shakespeare. We've been reading books from the Shakespeare can be Fun series by Lois Burdett. These books are fantastic at introducing the bard to children. They include the more famous lines and keep the adult content to a minimum. In Romeo and Juliet, they do die in the end which shocked my son. I explained that Shakespeare used tragedy to make us think about things. His drawings have since taken on a very macabre element which he excuses as tragedy. I'd better make a note of that on any that make it into the scrapbook.

Then, they watched a little cartoon on Netflix called Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Okay, this movie is isn't the greatest and everyone lives happily everafter, BUT! They use the proper names of the characters and adhere to the central story line. I'm happy with it considering my three-year-old now knows Juliet was a Capulet and Romeo was a Montague!



They next ran with the whole Romeo and Juliet idea and decided to organize a neighborhood play. My son was to do the scenery and my daughter would handle costumes. My three year old kept lying dramatically over her stuffed animals saying "I'm dead. Just kidding!" All was going well until they came across one tiny problem: my daughter wanted to be Juliet and my son insisted on being Romeo. Ewwww.

Well, there is always the Tempest or Macbeth. I have no fear, they will have moved on to Robin Hood by tomorrow! 

4 comments:

  1. How cute! I've never heard of these books, I'll have to check them out when my kids are a wee bit older. (Stopping by from Catholic Mothers Online, btw!)

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  2. It's wonderful to see other families enjoying Shakespeare! We are huge fans and our younger children get involved as well as the big kids. I hadn't heard of the "Shakespeare Can be Fun" series. I'll have to have a look. Have you seen the Leon Garfield Animated Shakespeare Tales on DVD? YOu can watch them on Youtube. Also, there is an E. Nesbitt book. It has a title something like "Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children". It is available free online at the Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project. It is aimed at younger ones and has the adult bits removed, and also some of the complicated sub plots. Better finish before I get carried away with my enthusiasm! I have enjoyed visiting your blog. God bless.

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  3. Thank you for stopping by! And, no, I hadn't heard of these resources. I'll be sure to check them out. Thank you!

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  4. Awesome! I keep giggling at the thought of your little one draping herself dramatically over her stuffed animals - so dramatic! Sounds like she has the right idea about Shakespeare. I can't wait to check out these books!

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