Midsummer Night's Dream ((Manga Shakespeare Series)) Book

Great additon to the English Literature resources in the library.

Let me start by saying I am not going to review the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream only the Manga take on the play.

I really wanted to see how these Manga books would relate in the Secondary school library, especially with the current trend for Manga.

Although the language remains the same as the original play it does make it easier to follow without the stage directions and with the illustrations of the specific person speaking.

The book starts with an introduction to each character along with a brief sentence as to their relationship with the other characters. Something that pupils can refer back to if they get confused as to who is with who etc.

The illustrations are beautiful and really add to the imagery portrayed within the dialogue. The way in which the characters were drawn is remarkably like the way I had pictured them within my imagination.

Really easy to follow and understand. My only 'complaint' which isn't really a complaint is that only the first few pages are in colour the rest are in black and white, I like colour but I think that it may increase the cost of production and therefore the cost to purchase.

I have shown the book to the English Department who are going to buy a set for the library. A great resource to run alongside the traditional text in the classroom and I think making Shakespeare more accessible to pupils.

Bringing Shakespeare to a whole new generation to fully appreciate cannot be a bad thing.

UPDATE: Since writing my review and taking the book into the library; to my great surprise and pleasure Year 12/13 students have been using it while working on their coursework [ : D ] I am one very happy Librarian.