CM Magazine: All the World's a Stage: A Pop-up Biography of William Shakespeare.

________________ CM . . . . Volume VIII Number 19 . . . . May 24, 2002

cover All the World's a Stage: A Pop-up Biography of William Shakespeare.
Michael Bender.
Vancouver, BC: Raincoast Books, 1999.
20 pp., cloth, $24.95.
ISBN 1-55192-271-1.
Subject Headings:
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616-Biography-Juvenile literature
Toy and movable books
Grades 4 and up / Ages 9 and up.

Review by Lorraine Douglas.

*** /4

exerpt:

"In the summer of 1582, eighteen-year-old William traveled the well-trodden path between Stratford and a town called Shottery to the house of Anne Hathaway. William wooed this daughter of a farmer, and by the end of the year they were wed."

This pop-up biography tells the story of William Shakespeare and the world of 16th century England in an interesting and accessible way. In brief double page spreads, topics like Shakespeare's childhood, his marriage and family, his early days in London, and his writings are covered. The author tells what is known about Shakespeare's life and his plays in a simple straightforward style. A timeline of Shakespeare's life and a glossary of terms are also included. Children who enjoyed Gary Blackwood's The Shakespeare Stealer (Dutton, 1998) and Shakespeare's Scribe (Dutton, 2000) will be interested in the information provided on how the scripts for the plays were kept and handled. This book nicely ties into a unit with other highly readable books for children on Shakespeare including Michael Rosen's Shakespeare: His Work & his World (Candlewick, 2001) and Aliki's William Shakespeare & the Globe (Harper
Collins, 1999).

The paintings for each of the spreads were originally done in acrylics. The pop-ups are mainly made up of the "floating layers" and the "lift the flaps" techniques. Bender is quite good at
engineering more information into the book by placing text under flaps like Robert Sabuda did in his pop-up, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Little Simon, 2000). Bender also created the pop-up
book Waiting for Filippo; The Life of Renaissance Architect Filippo Brunelleschi (Raincoast, 1995) which has a similar look and feel but has more dramatic pop-up structures.

This biography is recommended for children who would find that the pop-ups would add a new dimension to their learning.

Recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is the head of youth services at Winnipeg Public Library.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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