Romeo and Juliet for Kids

The story is written in rhyme, so even the old english is easy on little ears. I still had to do a little interpretation (my listeners are 6 and 7 years old). The pictures and 'notes' that are drawn and written by kids their age were very engaging and helped them understand the story even without my explanations. I found them reading the book on their own many times and drawing their own versions of Juliet and the Nurse. I will definitely look into the other plays written in this format.

I used this as an experiment to see if my 10-year-old and her 9-year-old friend could read and understand the storyline of a Shakespearean play. The verdict?? THEY DID!! I asked them to summarize the plot and they did it with total accuracy. What a cool thing!! I loved this and you will, too!

As a homeschooling parent I was looking for a way to introduce Shakespeare to my kids (9 and 10) -- they have loved these stories -- which we read aloud and then discussed (plot, characters, themes, conflicts, setting, motivations, etc.) -- the verse is enjoyable and effectively incorporates selected passages from the original in a seamless way. My kids have also enjoyed the illustrations and writing samples (all by 2nd-3rd graders) included in each book. After we read R & J, we watched the old Zefferelli film version and my kids got much more out of it. We've also read the Evelyn Nesbit prose versions but they didn't "feel" like Shakespeare the way these do...I have already purchased the exisitng Burdett versions and hope she has others in mind (PLEASE do Merchant of Venice!).