Romeo and Juliet
Grade 5-8-A well-told prose adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy. Using such language as, "The barest hint of moonlight dusted Verona's streets-," Coville captures the feel of Shakespeare's poetic verse, and includes many of the most famous lines of the play in the characters' dialogue. Occasionally, some of this dialogue has been altered, e.g., Juliet's "Deny thy father and refuse thy name" becomes the less flowing "Discard thy name," and Mercutio's "The slip, sire, the slip" becomes "Romeo, you gave us the slip last night," but such changes, while distracting to purists, enhance the comprehension for modern-day readers. The colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations are a perfect complement to this retelling. Paying scant attention to background details, the artist instead captures the essence of the scenes through vibrant facial expressions, focusing on the tender spirit of the young lovers and the explosive anger of their feuding relatives. One of the loveliest drawings, and one of the most striking features of the book, is that of the balcony scene, which unfolds vertically. Written in simpler prose than Charles and Mary Lamb's classic Tales from Shakespeare (Random, 1986) yet more poetic than Marchette Chute's Stories from Shakespeare (Meridian, 1959) or Jennifer Mulherin's "Shakespeare for Everyone" series (Silver Burdett), Coville and Nolan's collaboration is sure to win votes from readers who are looking for something romantic yet more substantive than the standard teen fare. A definite boost to both public and school Shakespearean collections.Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RICopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.