HOUSE
of BOOKS - TOP TENS
Tales of Greek Myths and Shakespeare plays re-told in an extertaining way with fascinating fact files.
Available in the UK and USA
Brand new 2009 editions
This series will be rebranded and re-released in 2009 as "10 Best Greek Legends Ever" and "10 Best Shakespeare Stories Ever"
 
Original editions
First launched as "Top Ten Shakespeare Stories and "Top Ten Greek Lends" in 1998
Second editions
These
books were re-branded and released in 2004 as "Twisted Tales"
TOP
TEN SHAKESPEARE STORIES
Scholastic
A retelling of the most popular Shakespeare plays |
TOP
TEN GREEK LEGENDS
Scholastic
A retelling of the most popular legends from Ancient Greece |
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WILL
SHAKES
Shakespeare
is the best writer in the world - ever! The trouble is he can be
a bit hard to follow these days because he was writing for people
who've been dead 400 years. So the aim of The Shakespeare stories
is to tell his terrific tales in modern ways and give some fascinating
(and foul) facts about his life. Then you are ready to go on and
read the great man's plays and poems for yourself. So, sack your
teacher and learn Shakespeare the new way!
DID
YOU NOT KNOW?
Audiences
do not always sit and watch a Shakespeare play in silence. Many
people treat the plays as a pantomime and enjoy shouting at the
actors. This is a great problem when the actors are trying to do
a serious play. In an 1813 performance of Romeo and Juliet someone
threw a cockerel on stage and it strutted around at Romeo's feet
while the audience howled with laughter. At the end of the play
a character called Paris is killed by Romeo and was lying dead on
the stage. An orange was thrown from the audience and landed smack
on his nose. The corpse stood up and walked off the stage! Finally,
as Romeo made his dying speech the restless audience cried, "Get
on with it! Why don't you die?"
Audiences of school pupils can be just as bad today. As Juliet held
the poison to her lips in a 1980 production a boy cried out, "Don't
do it, Jules, baby!" Luckily the actress ignored the advice,
Juliet died, the play ended ... and the boy got a thick ear from
an angry teacher
SMASHING
EXAMPLE - a little QUIZ
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In every Shakespeare play you can find wonderful
insults that people still enjoy watching ... or even saying
... today. You may not understand what a "prating mountebank"
means, but it sounds wonderful if you can remember it and
call your worst enemy that!
In fact Shakespeare mixed his words so well that you can make
up new insults from his.
Here is a top ten of Shakespeare's insults. Se if you can
match the correct word on the left with its partner on the
right. It doesn't matter if you get the answers wrong ...
you may discover some wonderful new insults as you try.
"Bloodsucker of caterpillars" looks a rather pleasant
thing to call someone who has upset you!
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Did You Know?