I thought this was a well done biography of William Shakespeare considering there is so much we don't know about him and his life, I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the history of Elizabethan theatre. The author Diane Stanley was able to enhance the story including details about what is known of Shakespeare and the period itself. The illustrations were neatly done and appeared to accurately reflect the period.
Further information is added post script regarding Shakespeare's inventive language, creating words of his own to express his ideas or thoughts. ( )

This book tells about the life a William Shakespeare and the untold facts some people may have never known about him. ( )

This is an interesting book about the life of Shakespeare. As the author points out much of what we know about him is pieced together from many different historians points of view. It tells the story of his life from birth to death. It also gives a lot of history about the theatre and acting companies in England. Especially interesting is the Postscript.

This children's book is an excellent introduction to the biography of William Shakespeare. It gives you basic facts without getting too involved in theory. My favorite new fact is a list of words Shakespeare invented by writing them into his plays. In addition to "eyeball," which I already knew, he also made up: majestic, countless, hint, hurry, reliance, leapfrog, gust, excellent, and gloomy. Awesome! ( )

Carolyn Phelan (Booklist, Sept. 1, 1992 (Vol. 89, No. 1))
Similar in approach to Stanley's previous picture-book biographies, Shaka, King of the Zulus and Good Queen Bess , this handsome volume presents the life of Shakespeare. Writing even a brief biography of the bard can be tricky, since little is known of his life. The author deals with this problem in a commendably straightforward fashion; in the introduction, she discusses the meager sources available and states, "we have tried to show how historians investigate a life lived long ago." The text points out when a fact is conjectural or controversial. Would that other biographers, for adults as well as children, were as forthright in their presentation! Besides following Shakespeare's story through the well-written text and intriguing illustrations, readers will learn something of the Elizabethans and, particularly, their theaters. While the book's layout is somewhat static, with text on the left-hand pages and pictures on the right, there's a quiet vivacity in the art itself, which ranges from portraits of famous actors and political figures, to dramatic scenes of the players and their audiences, to domestic pictures of Shakespeare at home in Stratford. Stanley's finesse with the decorative elements of painting makes each illustration a pleasure and the whole book visually satisfying. Accessible to a wide age range, this is a fine introduction for anyone beginning to read Shakespeare. Category: Middle Readers. 1992, Morrow, $15 and $14.93. Gr. 3-8. Starred Review.
Reading Magic Awards Winner 1992 United States