"The small liberties he takes make for enjoyable reading, faithful to the main story and worth attention on their own or before going to see a production or a film version." -- The New York Times "Garfield's visual descriptions are so specific and so lavish; his line interpretations so absolute that he almost guarantees that any given production will seem inadequate after such a buildup!" --Sally T. Margolis, School Library Journal  "Leon Garfield's performance in Shakespeare Stories is masterly. In narratives of remarkable clarity the British writer tells the stories of a dozen plays -five tragedies, four comedies, two histories and ''The Merchant of Venice.' That last one and 'The Taming of the Shrew,' 'Twelfth Night' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' best reveal the virtuosity Mr. Garfield has developed in many years of writing dozens of children's books and historical novels.In Mr. Garfield's deft narratives the laughter is the same that one finds in the plays, but so is the uneasiness.

He gets the balances right." --D.J.R. Bruckner, The New York Times  "The most accessible introduction to the Bard ever." -- Woman and Home "Garfield retells the plots of nine more Shakespearean plays in graceful prose, studded with dialogue."--Carolyn Phelan, Booklist "For the guaranteed curriculum basics. here is an alternative to yellow study guides, one in which explication is subliminally available in the graceful prose.

The romances are appealing, and Garfield's seamless movement between his own descriptive language and Shakespeare's has never worked better." --Sally Margolis, School Library Journal  .