Ken Ludwig is a playwright who loves Shakespeare. He started teaching his kids about Shakespeare when they were six years old. Ludwig writes convincingly that Shakespeare can be learned at a young age. His approach is to start with the comedies. How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare includes detailed analysis of many of Shakespeare’s plays including one of my favorites: Twelfth Night. Ludwig’s other technique for teaching kids Shakespeare is to have them memorize some famous Shakespeare passages. You don’t have to have kids to appreciate Ludwig’s book. Trust me, you’ll come away with new insights into Shakespeare’s plays if you read Ludwig’s fine book. After finishing How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare, I wanted to drop everything and read some Shakespeare!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Twelfth Night
Romeo and juliet
Interlude
Henry lV Part l
As You Like
Henry V
Interlude
The Tempest
A List of Favorite Epigrams
Bibliography
When our kids were little, bedtime stories were a regular routine–and my husband was generally the reader. To introduce them to Shakespeare, we would read from Charles and Mary Lamb’s Shakespeare for Children. As a result, our kids know a lot more Shakespeare than their classmates.
It does sound interesting. I remember that Lamb book, Deb.
We saw the original Broadway production of Ludwig’s LEND ME A TENOR back in 1989. I’d give it a C+.
Deb, I always had VHS tapes of Shakespearean productions on our family TV. Both Patrick and Katie enjoy Shakespeare. Katie saw MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING when it opened in Boston last month and told me I should see it…which I did.
Jeff, John Lithgow’s introduction to HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN SHAKESPEARE is full of stories of his early experiences with Shakespeare. It’s sad so many kids never get exposed to Shakespeare until High School when it’s probably too late!
I still use the Lamb every time we are going to a WS play. Never fails me.
Patti and Deb: I have a copy of that Lamb volume but never read it. Now I see I need to!