William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare, Nel Yomtov (Retold by), Jesus Aburto (Illustrator), Bere Muñiz (Illustrator)

Overview

Witness a tale of love, fairies, and betrayal in this classic tale retold in graphic-novel format. Theseus, duke of Athens is preparing for his marriage when Hermia, and her father, Egeus, burst into his court and beg for Theseus’s judgment regarding whom Hermia, Egeus’s, daughter, should marry. Theseus tells Hermia she must marry Demetrius, even though she really loves Lysander. At nightfall, the two young lovers run off to the forest to be married in secret. However, Demetrius discovers their deception and charges into the forest, searching for his bride-to-be. Little do any of them know, a band of magical fairies lives in this forest, and they have other plans for these lovestruck humans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781434234490
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	07/01/2011
Series:	Shakespeare Graphics Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	88
Sales rank:	1,066,243
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	GN570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Nel Yomtov is an award-winning author of children's nonfiction books and graphic novels. He specializes in writing about history, current events, biography, architecture, and military history. He has written numerous graphic novels for Capstone, including the recent School Strike for Climate, Journeying to New Worlds: A Max Axiom Super Scientist Adventure, and Cher Ami: Heroic Carrier Pigeon of World War I. In 2020 he self-published Baseball 100, an illustrated book featuring the 100 greatest players in baseball history. Nel lives in the New York City area.

Jesus Aburto has worked in the comic book industry for more than eleven years. In that time, he has illustrated popular characters such as Wolverine, Iron Man, Blade, and the Punisher. Recently, Jesus started his own illustration studio called Graphikslava. He lives in Monterrey, Mexico, with his kids Ilka, Mila, Aleph, and his beloved wife. Jesus enjoys spending his spare time with family and friends.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Table of Contents

Cast of characters — Act 1 — Act 2 — Act 3 — Act 4 — Act 5.

Editorial Reviews

...provides a gentle, accessible introduction to his work while also poking fun at the vagaries of love.

Reading Today Online

Coville follows up his version of The Tempest (see p. 84) with a retelling of another of Shakespeare's most popular plays. The fundamental story of magic, mischief and the trials and tribulations of love is preserved through well-chosen use of the original language and Coville's heady prose ("The queen... saw the ass-headed monstrosity through magic-drenched eyes"). Major plot lines are clearly and concisely rendered, but it is the portrayal of the various levels of humor-from Bottom's buffoonery to Puck's gleeful magic-making-that really captures the essence of the play. Nolan's (Dinosaur Dream) sumptuous, painterly watercolors highlight the theatrical setting of the spellbound wood. Gnarled, mossy trees provide the backdrop for a cast of unusually youthful lovers, gossamer-winged fairies (which nod at Rackham's famous interpretations) and a truly puckish Puck. A first-rate entre to the Bard. Ages 7-up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

One in a series of new editions of Shakespeare's plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream is suitable for use in high schools and compares very favorably with other editions currently available. The text is clear, and notes on the facing page make for easy reference. The edition includes an introduction to the play and to Shakespeare and a brief but useful note on Shakespeare's language and on the Globe theater. At the back are act-by-act study questions, writing assignments, and suggestions for other creative activities.-Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.

Library Journal

Gr 10 Up-William Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed, and today's students and readers of them are in for an enjoyable listening experience with this unabridged and fully dramatized version of one of his most popular romantic comedies. With its diversified combination of plot materials including classical Greek mythology, fairy lore, love story and the amateur Elizabethan play within this play, A Midsummer Night's Dream can be a difficult play to follow and understand. However, many of he cast members here are accomplished Shakespearean actors, and they skillfully deliver the bard's poetic and masterful language. Locating specific scenes and dialogue from the play is simple with these CDs, as they are identified in an accompanying booklet by the numbered tracks. Listeners will be delighted to easily follow the various enchanted lovers, comic actors, ad fairy characters through the moral and mystical worlds of the play. Beginning and concluding this production and providing musical interludes between scenes is the Scholars Baroque Ensemble, performing historical music from Purcell's "The Fairy Queen." An excellent audio addition to Shakespeare collections.-Marilyn Higgins, Metuchen High School, NJ

School Library Journal

In a series documenting the responses to Shakespeare's plays by critics, editors, and general readers in the period from the late 1700s to 1920<-->a period which saw the founding of Shakespeare societies and journals and constant reprints of the plays, this volume spotlights what has reigned as one of the bard's most popular comedies. The 85 entries span Irish playwright-actress Elizabeth Griffith's 1775 discourse on the themes of morality and human sympathy in the play, to Italian critic Croce's 1920 essay on this "comedy of love." Other notables expounding on every aspect of the play include Ruskin, Swinburne, Shaw, and Beerbohm. Indexed by references to , references to the other plays, and by general subject. Distributed in the US by Transaction Publishers. An illustration would have been welcome. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ( PLB Oct. 1996; 48 pp.; 0-8037-1784-6; PLB 0-8037-1785-7): Coville (Fortune's Journey, 1995, etc.) gracefully retells this famous comedy, retaining just enough of Shakespeare's language to lend a sense of the world of the play without overwhelming picture- book readers. Nolan conjures a magical world of Mediterranean-blue skies and gloomy enchanted forests, helpfully including endpaper portraits of the cast of characters. As an introduction to the real thing, this may be useful to older readers who want to have the plot and characters in mind before they enter Shakespeare's realm.

Kirkus Reviews