How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare

Oh my I love this book. Let me start off by introducing myself. I'm an immigrant from Asia. My formal English training stopped in high school. (Except for some humanity courses I had to take in college). I came to the USA well into my teenage years and had some English as a foreign language classes prior. In the USA, I had awesome teachers, hence I advanced quickly through the ESL classes and after a year or so, I was put in a regular English class where I was introduced to Macbeth. I hated it!! Why? Because the English language was so hard. It was so frustrating and embarrassing to know how I barely made it through. I never understood what the fuss is about with Shakespeare, the Bard. Fast forwarding, I have two young kids. One with slight developmental delay, in second grade. The teacher had told me about the importance of language art education, so I thought.. why not try Shakespeare. It was more for myself. I read the first three chapters without a pause. The author just threw a line from A Midsummer Night's Dream. "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows". He makes you repeat it. Then he smoothly goes on to explain why he wrote the book. At some point, (I'm not referring back to the book as I am writing this review, so the order of what appears when is a bit blur, however,) he says two literatures are the bedrock of the modern civilization of the English speaking world. William Shakespeare and the King James' Bible. Then the following chapter(s), he breaks it down line by line. I never read nor watched on movie nor seen on a play A Midsummer Night's Dream. All the old English expressions explained along the way, in the sentences, within the context of the play. It is written in such an easily understood way, even I, a non-native English speaker came to appreciate the beauty that is locked within the words of the Poet. The author stresses on m-e-m-o-r-i-z-a-t-i-o-n. And yes, I hate memorization. In my childhood, I have developed an allergy to rote memorization. Why? To me, it was just a means to get a good score on the test. At some point I felt I lost creativity. However. The author stresses on memorization. You memorize, you repeat. Then you will understand. The author made me realize, rote memorization (of the lines from Shakespeare's plays) is one of the many tools not so much for academic achievement, but to enrich your life. My sons were never exposed to plays or heard of William Shakespeare. And there is the website that has lines to download, and oh my, the beautiful reading by the actors. The way the 'read', oh no, they speak from the heart the lines from Shakespeare. Bar none. I have bought some other books for children such as poetry, with CD's. They are great also, but the recording on the website for this book, the best. Who am I to critique, I'm not a native English speaker, but the language, the rhythm, it speaks to me at a different dimension. So as of today, I am hoping, through this book, my children will come to appreciate it and I hope that they will in the future be as witty and as observant as the Bard was, who knows. They will create their own play. And who knows. They will come to enrich other people's lives. I already know what I will be doing with my FIVE years old son. Draw. Have him use his imagination to draw the scene of the bank with the flowers. Spark his imagination. On the second note... Perhaps I can use author's techniques to teach my kids and myself King James' translation of the Bible. And by the way, I never received any commission or even free sample from the author or the publisher. I bought it straight from Amazon.com with my own money. Although, I would oh my, welcome invitation to bring my kids to see Shakespeare plays with someone who understands it, like the author.

This book is fantastic. The first two chapters have inspired me so much. I bought this book for myself as much as I did out of curiosity about the book. I am a homeschooling mom this year but also a certified teacher who will likely go back to the classroom next year. I was intrigued by the title, which inspired me to purchase it. It has always been something of an embarrassment to me that I was not exposed to much Shakespeare in school, save for memorizing a soliloquy in my 10th grade speech class years ago. I have always wanted to rectify that and study Shakespeare on my own. I bought this book for myself as much as to enrich my teen son’s literary education. I am thoroughly enjoying the book. The introduction by John Lithgow is equally as enchanting. I was reading it thinking, “What a childhood!” I’m looking forward to starting to memorize with my son. The writing in this book is light and bright and easy to read. I have found it exceptionally inspirational during a time when not much is feeling inspiring in my life. Thank you, Ken Ludwig, for a well-written and thoughtful book.

This was a book in my kids homeschool curriculum and it's really cool. It has you and your kid learning and memorizing Shakespeare. I really enjoyed this book and watching my kid perform the lines.

Listened to an interview of the author by Sarah MacKenzie on the Read Aloud Revival podcast!! Was a joy to hear him talk about growing up to love Shakespeare and how he shared the Bard with his daughter as she grew. This book is a helpful tool for parents, grandparents, teachers, homeschoolers, or anyone who might like to crack open a little Shakespeare something and dive into it for oneself.

Overall, I think it's a great book to help your kids get deeper into Shakespeare after they've read something like "Tales from Shakespeare" by the Lamb siblings, or Edith Nesbit's similar work. Ludwig's affection for his topic breathes so infectiously from every page that you'll find yourself re-reading Shakespeare for your own enjoyment before you're halfway through. I would have liked more detailed instructions on how to teach children to declaim the selected passages properly, but he gives you a good start in his discussion of iambic pentameter and provides a wealth of additional sources in the bibliography. I already bought one of them, Peter Hall's book, 'Shakespeare's Advice to the Players', to help fill in the gaps. Since I can't link to a helpful and interesting webpage on using iambic pentameter to speak Shakespeare properly, do a search for 'performing Shakespeare Ben Crystal interview' for a quick informative guide. Ludwig puts his own modern translation side-by-side with some of the speeches to clarify the more archaic words and shades of meaning. I didn't find all of them to be completely accurate; for example, he rendered Shakespeare's 'quick' as 'deeply', when 'quick' meant 'alive' or 'living', as exampled by "The Quick and the Dead". Not a big deal, just something that sticks out to someone familiar with the King James Bible. Charming illustrations of Shakespeare-themed paintings, sculpture, and pictures of various stage productions were a pleasant addition to the text. The pictured actors ranged from Vivian Leigh to David Tennant, slightly comedic as Hamlet poised with crown askew. As a homeschooling mother passionate about great literature, I would definitely recommend this book to get parents as well as children excited and confident about a plunge into the turbulent, stimulating world of a 16th century genius. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends..."

I must admit, I've never been particularly fond of Shakespeare, but when I felt the need to work on memorization skills with my nine year old autistic child and had no desire to try nursery rhymes again, I checked this book out of the library on a whim. By the time I had to return it, I had made the decision to purchase the book. The author provides memorization tips and tricks, as well as printouts and audio files so you can hear what it should sound like. Each passage is well detailed, background is given as to what is going on in the story and each line is explained so both my son and I understand what each passage actually means. It provokes conversations between us about culture, character personalities, vocabulary, appropriate behavior in different situations, and understanding of social mores in a time not our own. I must admit at this point, that Shakespeare may not be so bad after all. We move through the passages much slower than seems to be implied by than the author, just one or two new lines every few nights, with lots of repetition and discussion, but six months later, my son who couldn't memorize "Jack and Jill" can now recite and act out several passages of Shakespeare. (And gallop around the house shouting "I go! I go! Look how I go!") I absolutely recommend this book to anyone.

Though I've taught drama, I never really felt that my Shakespeare curriculum materials were adequate and have been hoping to find something just like this to inform my methodology. The author's approach is unique in that he stresses the importance of memorization coupled with activities that help children truly think about the words Shakespeare chose. His respect for the bard shines through on each page, and I enjoyed the narrative tone-light, encouraging, engaging. Recommend for parents and teachers or anyone who is interested in Shakespeare.

I have started using this book with my five year old daughter. She learned the first section incredibly quickly and very soon was able to quote more Shakespeare than myself, and I have a literature degree! We haven't moved out of the first play's worth of selections (Midsummer), because I really wanted to make sure she had a grasp of the whole play rather than just reciting memorized words with no context, so I have had her watch some movie versions and I bought a set of books that have re-writings of the plays for children (http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Shakespeare-Childrens-Stories-Collection/dp/178226020X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455040202&sr=8-2&keywords=shakespeare+for+children) - the books do a great job of preserving the stories while making them digestible for little kids. Now my 5 year old not only knows the words, but she is able to explain the context and has started speaking them as an actor rather than just reciting. The way this book is structured is fantastic, and Ken Ludwig really developed a phenomenal system for teaching not just the lines and stories of Shakespeare, but the tools for children to know how to LOVE Shakespeare. I highly recommend it to any parents who want to share their appreciation of Shakespeare with their children.

Absolutely excellent! My 7 and 6 year old have enjoyed learning the first memory passage (from Midsummer's Night Dream) with no dragging their heels. Easy to pick up and dip into; full of advice to make the introduction to Shakespeare easy for your children. As an adult, I've enjoyed it too!

I kinda found the book a bit of an underkill...expected something more for the hype but Ive been teaching Shakespeare for more than two decades ...but still worth reading it through once

Love it, my kid who is 6 years old loves it...playing with language. Quality time together.

A wonderful book for adults who love Shakespeare. Also good for giving older kids a great feel for it through memorization.

My daughter loves this book though we've never gotten too far into it. I learned lots and so did she.