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Contact: Linda F. Radke, Five Star Publications (480) 940-8182

What’s more than 400 years old yet brand-new to today’s children?

The works of William Shakespeare!

Four centuries after they first appeared, William Shakespeare’s perceptive insights into the human condition still speak to us. Educators base important components of their curricula on the Bard’s canon and home libraries throughout the world are lined with his works. Shakespeare’s works are as relevant and as inspirational today as they were when audiences first paid a penny to attend his plays. Teachers will tell you it is truly a magical moment when students discover the beauty and messages of his plays.

The introduction of Shakespeare, however, is not an easy task. Sometimes the magic can use a little assistance.

With the help of the Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series, teachers, librarians, students and parents find easily accessible help in appreciating and understanding the Bard’s plays. In this series, his plays have been streamlined for today’s classroom and home introduction. Authored by Professor of Theatre, Cass Foster this series maintains Shakespeare’s rich language and provides liberal footnotes for a quick explanation of unfamiliar words and phrases.

With the Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series, readers of all ages are assured of gaining a clear understanding of the most widely staged and studied playwright in history!

Foster, a professor of theatre at Central Arizona College provides abridged scripts (each an average 70 pages—approximately an hour’s worth of performance time) with practical suggestions for staging, pacing, and thematic exploration.

Using the Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series, readers in all 50 states, every Canadian provinces, and in 45 other countries have discovered the wonderful sense of achievement that comes from successfully studying and staging a play by Shakespeare. Educators the world over are praising this series for delivering the material within the constraints of class time, budget and students’ attention spans. Parents, educators and librarians not schooled in Shakespeare no longer fear teaching, introducing or recommending his works:

As our Education Outreach department at Colorado Shakespeare Festival is dedicated to enlightening teachers and students (and the community at large) about Shakespeare’s works—using a “hands-on” philosophy—I have found the Five Star Shakespeare collection an incredible resource. ~ Melinda J. Scott, Education Director, Colorado Shakespeare Festival

Want to ease kids into reading full-length Shakespeare? The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series offers fast-paced condensations of six Shakespeare classics. Rather than retell, the series preserves the original play format and the Bard's language, while providing excellent footnotes to archaic words. It's a smart stepping stone to the real thing. ~ NEA Today

For more information about ordering this remarkable series, please contact Linda F. Radke, Five Star Publications, (480) 940-8182.


SPECIAL OFFER for LIBRARIANS and TEACHERS: Buy the full set of eight books in our Shakespeare books, and receive a 25% discount on your order! That’s all eight books, regularly $98.84, and all you pay is $74.13!
Contact: Linda F. Radke, Five Star Publications (480) 940-8182

The Sixty- Minute Shakespeare series:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream * Hamlet * Romeo & Juliet * Twelfth Night * Macbeth * Much Ado about Nothing
plus
Shakespeare for Children: The Story of Romeo & Juliet
and
Shakespeare: To Teach or Not to Teach "My only objection to your publication Shakespeare: To Teach or not to Teach is that it should definitely go beyond elementary to high school. It would be well received by college introductory classes and most community theatres. Include the self study group in the home for the complete family.

The students would be thrilled to receive a certificate, ribbon or even a trophy for competitive study and homework. Scaled models, graphics, monologues and painted illustrations of some Shakespeare's key characters would be fun and bring out dormant artistic endeavors. One of Shakespeare's more famous characters would be creative, Yorick the King's jester as Hamlet identifies him in the form of a skull, twenty years after his actual death. His likeness would prove a real challenge.

The book is an amazing introduction to the Bard, his works and environment. Please list the Shakespeare Society of America's recommendation as a way to overcome literary and dramatic stage fright that can open many doors because 'all the world's a stage', and 'the play is the thing'."

Sincerely,
R. Thad Taylor, President
Shakespeare Society of America, Inc.
[full letter]




Highly Recommended Rating by Schoolzone -
the leading independent educational review body

"Recommended for use with fourth-grade and up (though it can be used with younger students…While the authors recommend using this resource in conjunction with Five Star Publications' Sixty Minute Shakespeare series, the suggestions may also be used in any program designed to introduce Shakespeare to students ranging in age from elementary to high school, or a mixture of ages."

"The tone of the book is enthusiastic and encouraging, the suggestions are realistic, and the activities are doable. Shakespeare: To Teach or Not to Teach is an excellent resource for any teacher setting out on the grand adventure of bringing Shakespeare's timeless plays to life."
Eclectic Home School Online

Web site: http://www.GetShakespeare.com

E-Mail the author: fosterian@worldnet.att.net

ISBN 978-1-877749-03-2
$ 29.95
Published by Little Five Star, a division of Five Star Publications, Inc.
Paperback
Paper

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Other related items that you might enjoy:
The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare
Shakespeare for Children: The Story of Romeo and Juliet