William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

by Bruce Coville

Coville’s Shakespeare Retellings

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A simplified prose retelling of Shakespeare's play about two young people who defy their warring families' prejudices and dare to fall in love.

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6 reviews
A beautiful and approachable retelling of one of my favorite Shakespearean play! The illustrations truly demonstrate how young Romeo and Juliet are, which is an important aspect many students forget while reading. This is a great resource to introduce the play, review important plot points and characters, or offer a wide scope of a play that takes significant class time. Includes some of the most memorable and significant lines from the play.
Debatably the most tragic love story in our history, Romeo and Juliet is one of the more famous works by William Shakespeare. I remember reading this book in ninth grade and falling in love with the idea of "star crossed lovers" and being devastated to learn about the fates of Romeo and Juliet. Bruce Coville did a great job with this picture book by staying true to the storyline but changing some of the language and altering the violent themes. I originally only picked up this picture book, but I was moved to read more of Coville's Shakespearean picture books after reading this one. It is a great tool to use when introducing Shakespeare to a younger student that has expressed interest in the material.The illustrations were also show more beautifully done and really captured the essence of the story. show less
Romeo and Juliet is, arguably to some, inarguably to others, the greatest love story ever told. Bruce Coville and Dennis Nolan's adaptation does nothing to lessen the story's legacy.

As is par for the course with this author/illustrator pairing, Coville strives to keep the heart of the story in tact while Nolan uses Coville's cues to paint beautiful pictures. As compared to other works of theirs, however, one thing is a bit different. The language used here, while still easier to read than Shakespeare himself, is a bit more complex. Still, it's only a minor issue to note. The illustrative quality, on the other hand, has not changed a bit. Nolan's work continues to be top-notch.

As an introduction to the world of Shakespeare or a companion show more to the play itself, Coville and Nolan's Romeo and Juliet works quite well. show less
A good way to introduce children to The Bard, the plain telling of this story is well written, yet familiar as the words spoken by the characters are the lines that we have heard for decades. The delicate art and illustrations provide a backdrop for this romantic, tragic tale of young love.
Romeo and Juliet are from feuding families, and they are forbidden to be with each other. This tale of fighting for love is timeless. The illustrations make the story come alive, and the language make it more readable than the play version does. I think every high school English teacher should have this version as a reference for those students who just can't grasp the traditional play version.
This book is the tragic story of Romeo Motigue and Juliet Capulet. This book is about forbiden love.Romeo fell in love with Rosaline but she didnt love him back. For a while he was sad but his goofy cuzin and his cuzin's friend got him to go to the ball and while he was there he fell in love with Juliet. Tybalt out of anger killed romeo's cuzin and out of anger Romeo killed Tybalt. Out of anger the prince banished Romeo frome fair Verona. Juliet's parents made her wed but she didnt so she drank a fake poison to make her seem dead. The man that gave her that was suposed to send Romeo a letter saying it was fake but he never got it. After hearing about his wifes "death" he made an irational disition by buying posion what will he do???

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Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, on May 16, 1950. He spent one year at Duke University in North Carolina. Coville started working seriously at becoming a writer when he was seventeen. He was not able to start selling stories right away, so he had many other jobs, including toymaker, gravedigger, cookware salesman, and assembly line show more worker. Eventually, Coville became an elementary teacher, and worked with second and fourth graders. Coville married Katherine Dietz an artist, and they began trying to create books together. It wasn't until 1977 that they finally sold their first book, The Foolish Giant. They joined together on two other books after that, Sarah's Unicorn and The Monster's Ring, and followed them with Goblins in the Castle, Aliens Ate My Homework, and The World's Worst Fairy Godmother. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Nolan, Dennis (Illustrator)

Some Editions

Bishop, Cynthia (Narrator)

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Alternate titles
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
People/Characters
Prince Escalus; Lord Montague; Benvolio Montague; Romeo Montague; Juliet Capulet; Mercutio (show all 8); Tybalt Capulet; Friar Lawrence
Important places
Verona, Italy
Dedication
For Kathy-B.C.
For Lauren-D.N.
First words
Once in fair Verona there lived two families who fought for so long that no one could remember why their quarrel first began. Now whenever the Montagues and the Capulets met in the streets, a battle was sure to follow.
Quotations
A plague on both of your houses! They have made worms' meat of me.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)--tragically parted in life--would be remembered together in their death.

Classifications

Genres
Poetry, Picture Books, Children's Books
DDC/MDS
822.3Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish drama1558-1625 Elizabethan period
LCC
PR2878 .R6 .C68Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish LiteratureEnglish renaissance (1500-1640)
BISAC

Statistics

Members
201
Popularity
162,891
Reviews
6
Rating
(4.23)
Languages
English
Media
Paper
ISBNs
4
UPCs
1
ASINs
1