Pop-up Shakespeare

Gr 3–7—William Shakespeare's plays and poems get an immersive, pop-up treatment in this vastly enjoyable guide to the bard's complete works. Plays are organized by theme: comedies, histories, romances, and tragedies. Pop-ups and lift-the-flap pieces reveal small bits of information about each of his plays and several of his sonnets. Comedic, cartoonish illustrations give the gist of each play with exceedingly pithy verbal summaries. Each play is synopsized by a "Long Story Short" factoid, such as for The Taming of the Shrew, "Some people really deserve each other." Romeo and Juliet is condensed to "Teenage marriages are almost always a bad idea." The oversize book also contains fun facts, favorite quotes, and historical details about Shakespeare's life and times. In fact, the first spread is dedicated to Shakespeare's Stratford and London, words most likely invented by him, his poetry, and evidence of his younger years. There is some quite interesting analysis included; for example, a brief discussion of why three of his comedies are considered Shakespeare's "problem plays." (The answer is that they are not really all that funny!) The book is well designed, although the layout of some of the text under the lift-the-flaps is awkward in some spots.