Thank you to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

This is an engaging, accessible and interesting introduction to Shakespeare and his plays. Aimed at 12-15- year-olds, the book is a great way of making Shakespeare interesting and relevant to today, with sections that bring Shakespeare forward into today's popular culture, making connections to novels and movies that use his plays as source material. It gives a very comprehensive and short (by necessity) overview of his life and times, and delves into 4 of the plays, offering overviews, themes, timelines, activities, a cute comic-strip story, and lots of online resources and smart phone scans for students who want a multi-media Shakespeare experience.

One glaring, inexcusable misreading of Shakespeare's language needs to be mentioned (and fixed by the publishers!): in one of the comic strips, a character paraphrases the "wherefore art thou Romeo" line as "wherefore art thine brains," clearly misusing the word "wherefore" to mean "where." As the author surely must know, "wherefore" means "why"! ( )