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HomeShop at BookSurgeHistoryUnited StatesState & LocalMiddle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)Shakespeare's Macbeth for Kids: 3 Short Melodramatic Plays for 3 Group Sizes |
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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth Feb 07, 2010
By dbklover
To play or not to play? That is the question...and the answer, of course, is PLAY!!! Especially, when you're playing around with one of Brendan Kelso's plays. My fifth graders performed Macbeth this past week, and it was a tremendous hit. From Lady Macbeth snatching the crown away from Macbeth (she's got quite a power struggle going on), wandering around the stage wearing red gloves, and dying dramatically offstage to witches reciting "Something wicked this way comes", there's enough Shakespeare and humor going around for everyone. Our theatrical production was the culminating project for a nine weeks unit on Shakespeare for my fifth grade gifted learners. The parents were thrilled that their children were studying Shakespeare, quoting Shakespeare, and asking for Shakespeare at home. I truly feel that my students will look forward to learning more about Shakespeare as they progress in school.
My students also performed A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet. The plays are adapted for group size, include actual lines from Shakespeare, and make kids enjoy performing great works. They were very easy to stage - its amazing what you can do with a few foam swords, a Burger King costume, and some plaid cloth from the dollar table at Wal-Mart.
His books are a bargain in cost, and a luxury in value to classroom instruction. Now, if he would just get Hamlet and a few other plays written for us to use next year, all would be well!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Great way to get Kids Hooked on Shakespeare Sep 29, 2011
By Mr. Z
We have been teaching Shakespeare in our 4/5 Multi-age class for the past 10 years. This last year we used three of plays by Kelso and it changed the way we taught Shakespeare. The kids were instantly engaged in the stories. The simplicity of the plots allowed the kids to get the point of the play with out being bogged down with the language. The plays are funny and engaging for even a 4th or 5th grader. Once they had the basics of the story we were able to go a little deeper into the plays.
We are definitely using the books as a part of our Shakespeare unit from now on. Awesome tool for the classroom.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Entertaining and Accessible Sep 16, 2011
By Mary E. Moore
I recently received my copy of Brendan Kelso's Shakespeare's Macbeth for Kids, and I can't wait to use it in my classroom (6th/7th language arts). Kelso's retelling is engaging and accessible.
Shakespeare was all about entertainment--the drama, the humor, the plot twists. Shakespeare's plays were written in the vernacular of the time-his original audience didn't have to struggle to understand. But Shakespeare can be intimidating to a modern-day 6th grader! What I love about Kelso's rendition is that it removes the struggle and leaves the joy and genius of Shakespeare's work.
Kelso mixes the modern (MacDuff to Macbeth: Stinks to be you!) with the original lines that are so much a part of our cultural literacy (Double, double, toil and trouble . . .). The result is a play that is entertaining and accessible to children while retaining the most memorable lines of the original work.
Kelso also includes a very simple 6 - 8 day plan for incorporating the play into the classroom. I will be using this version of Macbeth in the classroom as the perfect follow-up to our planned reading of The Wednesday Wars.
 Perform it, don't read it. Sep 23, 2011
By Duane Morin
I've been raising my kids on Shakespeare, literally, since they were still in strollers. I'm always on the lookout for anything that will help me do that. Brendan Kelso's "Shakespeare for Kids" series is a pleasant, if unexpected, addition to my collection. These books are in no way a children's "no fear" version where the text has been translated into modern english. As a matter of fact, there's very little Shakespearean text at all. What Brendan's done is to take each play and then rewrite them in a way that young children can understand. The characters are the same, the plot (though heavily edited) is basically the same, and he does make it a point to include pieces of Shakespeare's original text. And by that I do mean pieces - just words and phrases, not entire passages.
This is, honestly, not what I'm used to. I wasn't quite sure to do with a "Shakespeare" play that has the characters all calling each other Dude, rolling their eyes, and saying things like "Oh, sweet!" when something's gone right, and "Wow, bummer," when it doesn't. This is where my 4 rather than 5 star review comes from - I personally think that the kids can handle more of the original text. There are places where the script reads like a grown up writing the way he thinks children talk, and if I did ever hear my own kids talking that way I'd wonder whose life I'd walked into by mistake.
What is it that they always say about Shakespeare? It is meant to be performed, not read - so let it be with Kelso. He makes it perfectly clear that his intent with these miniature scripts is to get classrooms full of children up out of their seats and acting out the greatest literature in the English-speaking world. He puts special emphasis on dying (kids love to die on stage), and specifically forbids memorizing the lines - he'd rather have the creativity of a student actor "making it her own", as they say on all the reality shows. To achieve this goal the books get very practical - each contains 3 different versions of the play dependent on group size, and within each there are notes about when you can still double up characters.
I'm not a teacher and I don't have access to a large group of children who want to put on a show, so I haven't been able to take the books for a spin the way they're intended. I know that my 9 and 7yr olds both love them, and the very day they arrived my 9yr old announced, "To the puppets!" and we staged act 1 on video. It's more of a one-man show that way, but still great fun.
OUTSTANDING for kids of all ages! Oct 26, 2009
By R. Canfield
"Yo, Teach!"
I have used Kelso's adaptations of Shakespearean plays for kids in my classes for four years with tremendous success. Students are drawn to his clever use of humor and actual quotes to become true fans of Shakespeare. I work with sixth graders who carry their love of this work onto junior high and high school - giving them a huge advantage in literature classes. 'Macbeth' is one of our favorites - who can resist the witches and all the murder going on??? The kids love to create costumes and props to put on full productions for the rest of the school.
One of the greatest things about Kelso's adaptations is that they are so accessible to kids. All the students need is the script and they are off and running - production is totally kid-driven and always a huge hit with the audiences! Thanks to Brendan, a whole new generation will have a blast exploring Shakespeare. Be sure to check out his versions of 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Midsummer Night's Dream' as well - you can have your very own Shakespeare Festival!
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