Today’s post features books across different subjects –  to the world of the Bard and the architect.

Poetry for Kids: William Shakespeare (Poetry for Kids)
by William Shakespeare, Marguerite Tassi, Merce Lopez (Illustrations) 

Release Date: Apr 3, 2018 (but available for pre-order on Amazon)

GoodReads Description: Love! Betrayal! Ambition! Tragedy! Jealousy! Williams Shakespeare’s universal themes continue to resonate with readers of all ages more than 400 years after his death.

This wonderful, fully illustrated book introduces children to the Bard and 35 of his most famous and accessible verses, sonnets, and speeches. From “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” to “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” and “All the world’s a stage,” the words of the greatest playwright and poet spring to life on the page.

The next generation of readers, poets, and actors will be entranced by these works of Shakespeare. Each poem is illustrated and includes an explanation by an expert and definitions of important words to give kids and parents the fullest explanation of their content and impact.

My Thoughts: This is an introduction to Shakespeare that is, in one word, enchanting (and to add one more word, entrancing). What a wonderful way to introduce kids (and adults too) to the Bard! The book encompasses the playful, the romantic, the serious, and more selections from many of his works including Hamlet, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, and Romeo and Juliet, among others. Delightful whimsical illustrations by Merce Lopez accompany each selection, and surprise the reader often with images that are, well, will let you discover for yourself! There are helpful notes to explain the language of the bard (words and phrases) for each of the selected works.

For example, for ‘Over Hill, Over Dale’ from ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’,

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,………..

Some of the notes are: dale – a wide, open valley; thorough – through; pale – fenced-in area.

Starting off with ‘All the World’s a Stage’ and ending with ‘Our Revels Have Now Ended’,  as well as one of my favorites (‘If Music Be the Food of Love’), each of the Bard’s words are brought alive in these pages!

Like in the other wonderful ‘Poetry for Kids’ book I read featuring Emily Dickinson, the additional notes at the end give a brief description of what Shakespeare was thinking of as he wrote each of the selected works. The introduction is a short yet informative biography of the poet. Poems include word definitions when necessary (helpful when reading to younger kids; and some words to better understand as used in the poem) and this really will be useful for readers. The selection of poems, as I mentioned earlier, included emotions ranging from innocence of childhood play to death, and illustrations convey the same (so there are a few skeletons, literally, in the book!).

This book is like a great starter kit to introduce kids (and also to adults) to poetry in general, and to specific poets.  A great book to gift to anyone. Along with the others in the series so far – Emily Dickinson (reviewed here), Robert Frost (one of my favorite poets), Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg (will review these others soon) – this is a great addition to any library.

Rating: A+
Reading Level: Read to younger kids; read with everyone else
Reread Level: 5/5
Disclaimer: Thank you to Edelweiss for the digital ARC of the book

The Future Architect’s Handbook 
Barbara Beck

Release Date: Sept 28, 2014

GoodReads Description: For children with a passion for drawing, or dreams of creating buildings, this book explores how architects really work, taking the young reader through the entire process for planning and designing a house. Learn about an architect’s four main drawings: the Site Plan, Floor Plan, Section, and Elevation–including the concept of drawing each plan to scale. Aspiring architects discover design techniques, along with different, exciting architectural styles used today. All of this is brought to life in freehand, pen-and-ink architectural drawings that will inspire children to apply these lessons to their own designs. This book is the perfect introduction to architecture, revealing why buildings look and function as they do. While this creative book is ideal for the middle grades, ages 9-12, even adults will find it inspiring.

My Thoughts: The Hows, Whys, Whats along with the bare bones basics for those young budding architects are all covered in this book. It takes the reader step-by-step at the very basic levels in simple, easy to understand language along with wonderful plans and illustrations to explain what goes on as the architect works on plans for a building, in this case, a house. It also introduces the reader to famous architects and different styles of architecture, and explains briefly why buildings need to be built differently for different conditions (weather/location/etc). This is a definitive handbook for architects – a great gift for one who is already an architect, and also to those future architects, or just about anyone. While my review was written for the NetGalley digital version I received, this is also currently on order for gifting 🙂

Rating: A
Reading Level: Ages 9 – 12 (well, all ages)
Reread Level: 5/5
Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC of the book

I am linking these books to What are you Reading?
From Picture Books to YA at Teach Mentor Texts and to NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge