In my opinion, this is the most tragic story of Shakespeare's works. Hamlet is grief-stricken by his father's death and in his plot for revenge starts a chain reaction that concludes with the majority of the cast dying at the end. It is a very dark story, and it is not a book I would introduce to elementary children, but I think it would be a great resource for middle or high school children that are reading the original text. Coville does a great job of retelling the story in simple but traditional language. I wish that I had read materials like this alongside the original text because it gave me a better overall picture of the story. The illustrations in this picture captured the solemn nature of the book. I would recommend this entire series to anyone interested in learning more about Shakespeare and his many works. ( )

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play, so finding a picture book version made me excited. Initially, I like this version. It reads like a fairy tale but keeps the original dialogue. However, looking at it knowing that it is a children's book, I only have a small nitpick. Shakespearean language is hard to understand and even older kids would have trouble with it. It'd be great for a unit on Shakespeare for much older kids, but I can't see using this book for less than 6th grade. I appreciate the adaptation, but if you are going to make a kids book for Shakespeare, you have to fully commit to the modern translation.

Regarding the artwork, I absolutely loved the play between light and dark. Hamlet is usually in the shadows and the pictures are dark and gritty. ( )

Coville does a great job in retelling Shakespeare's Hamlet. He condenses a complex play into something more palatable for even older audiences, and he is adept at using direct quotes from the play itself to not only help the story along, but also introduce the reader to the difficult writing style of Shakespeare. I thought the ethereal illustrations were a good artistic choice for the story, and I liked the artist's use of color and shading to express emotions in each scene. Since I'm not too familiar with other YA adaptations of Hamlet, I don't really have room to make a comparison to other retellings. While I think this is a great way to introduce maybe advanced young readers to Shakespeare, I feel like I'd rather take them to a play version instead of reading this book. I feel like the nuances of Shakespeare's words are left out in order to make the text more approachable. I suppose I might use this with students that are struggling to simply understand what is going on, and then working with them from there. ( )

This book was a condensed and easier to read version of Hamlet. Hamlet is about a Prince whose father died under mysterious circumstances. After his father’s ghost comes to him, Hamlet sets out to prove that his uncle killed his father in order to become King. One of the major themes of Hamlet is mortality. Hamlet was trying to prove that his uncle killed his father, but he, his uncle, and his mother end up dead themselves. The author took great time to establish the main plot lines from the original play, to make his version easier to read. The author also tended to try and simplify the story as much as possible. When the author did quote directly from Shakespeare he then immediately, explained what the quote meant. For example when Hamlet spoke the famous line to be or not to be, before the quote the author explained that the quote was about whether Hamlet wanted to continue to live. “Hamlet wandered in, distracted and wondering whether he should even continue to live. “To be, or not to be,” he said aloud.” Instead of using the language of Shakespeare’s time, sometimes the author just summarized what the characters were doing in modern language. “If Claudius were killed while praying, his soul would go straight to heaven, which was the last thing Hamlet wanted. Regretfully, he left the praying king and hurried to his mother’s chambers, where she awaited him with Polonius hiding behind the curtain.”
As a teacher I would use this book before I taught my students Shakespeare’s true version of the play. The author summarizes the main points beautifully, so the students would understand what the story is about without becoming confused while reading Shakespearean language. While I like the idea of having pictures to provide a visual aid to the students, I don’t like the illustrations in the book. I find them muddy and hard to see. While I think watching the movie version of these plays would provide a better visual, I think reading this book to students will make them less intimidated about Shakespeare. This book is not threatening to students and I think if they were read this book aloud, they would actually be excited about Shakespeare. ( )

Spirits, namely the recently deceased King Hamlet, play a key role in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The specter of the old king sets everything in motion, really. So, that being said, I can understand why Leonid Gore went in the direction he did with the illustrations for he and Bruce Coville's adaptation of Hamlet. The artwork is extremely ethereal, painting the characters as ghosts on our earthly plane. However, when matched with Coville's excellent summative writing, the illustrations don't quite mesh with portions of the story when action flares.

Overall, Coville and Gore's Hamlet is a solid adaptation, but ranks lower on the Coville totem pole than it should've given the high regard the original Hamlet is held. As a teaching tool, though, the book could definitely help young readers along. ( )