The proliferation of graphic-novel Shakespeare adaptations continues. Cardy and Nicholson's artwork gives the characters a nicely expressive range; the color palette is bold, luminescent, and mood evoking; and the well-designed panel flow presents an engaging version of the classic comedy. The volume is clearly intended for classroom use, and it is one of three versions: original text (presenting the play in its entirety), plain text (which uses contemporary language), and quick text (a heavily abridged adaptation). The back matter discusses how to convert a play into comics format, offers a short biography of Shakespeare, and touches on the Globe Theatre.

This comic-book-style adaptation capably conveys plot points but fails to capture the original play's thematic depth or humor. Awkwardly placed rectangular text boxes and distracting footnotes crowd the pages and create separation between illustrations and words. Marginally useful historical context is appended to the story. Timeline. Ind.

Gr 5 Up-Shakespeare's classic play about fairies, humans, and mismatched lovers is adapted into three different versions to accommodate different reading levels. "Original Text" uses Shakespeare's original iambic pentameter. "Plain Text" adapts the language into modern-day English. And "Quick Text" simplifies the language even further, suitable for middle-grade students' reading level. Each version contains a short biography of Shakespeare, a history of the play, information about the Globe Theatre, and an overview of the graphic novel's creation. The colorful and eye-catching illustrations bring this classic play to life for young readers. These different versions will be extremely valuable for educators working with students of different reading and interest levels. Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library