Students at The New School have been exploring Shakespeare, reading Bruce Coville’s adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, and of Hamlet, two of seven plays he has reworked for young readers. The Syracuse author of a variety of enticing books for children brought his boundless enthusiasm and talents to the school this week, describing the history of the project, and following it with an exciting narrative on how to construct a story. A great story.
Coville transitioned from tales of his Shakespeare days (recalling illustrator Ruth Sanderson’s putting him in costume to pose as the wizard Prospero, he remembers running through the woods brandishing his staff, crying “Become a toad! Become a toad!” for art’s sake), to a performance art piece on how to create a story. “Shakespeare has a reputation for being ‘difficult,’ but 400 years later, his work is still popular. The stories work,” he told the students.
A character readers care about, a problem for the character to solve alone, a difficult decision to make, and the details that emerge as the writer keeps asking the question ‘Why?’ were all described and embellished to a rapt and delighted circle of young writers. The energy generated by Coville’s presentation enlivened writing classes and discussion the in the following days. He told a great story.
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