The illustrations in the book are great! There are so many rich, colorful pictures that show what men and women were wearing during the time. There were also great illustrations of locations and important people of the time. Each two-page flip at a new picture and a page of writing. The book had a good balance of illustrations and words. This would be a great book to use for a research project or to introduce a theatre unit because there is a lot of information about theatre itself. ( )

My 10 year old enjoyed the story and pictures in this book. Shakespeare became a real person instead of a vague playwright. The illustrations were full color and quite descriptive. The story was interesting on its own without being too complicated. ( )

This biography provides students a very concise introduction to William Shakespeare and the Elizabethan times in which he lived. The reader learns from the first page in the Authors’ Note that much of his life is undocumented and unknown—particularly details about his family. They explain that they have pieced together his story from facts that are known—information about his life in London, including the circumstances of his writing for a troupe of male actors and his first patrons. Further, there are details about how Shakespeare’s plots weren’t very original but his characters were very developed and entertaining and the plays were filled with truths on the human condition. The differences between Shakespeare’s tragedies, comedies and histories are clearly explained. Readers get a very thorough picture of 16th-17th century English culture, including how Queen Elizabeth was an enthusiastic patron of the theater and how the locals enjoyed attending plays at the Globe. There is a detailed, fascinating Postscript, which refers to words and phrases that Shakespeare invented. Ironically, there is no mention of how he came to be known as the “Bard of Avon.” The illustrations, in muted jewel tones, appear to accurately depict the clothing and décor of the time. Target audience grades 3-5.

Stanley, D., & Vennema, P. (1992). Bard of Avon: The story of William Shakespeare. New York: Morrow Junior Books. ( )

I love how the author is upfront about the difficulty in writing an accurate biography of Shakespeare. She gave us lots of information regardless and even told us of some of the conjecture that exists about Shakespeare. This was as thorough as a biography of Shakespeare for children could be. We loved the information at the end about words and spelling during that time period and giggled at all ways we have quoted Shakespeare. ( )

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. ( )