"The two chief families in Verona were the rich Capulets and the Montagues. There had been an old quarrel between these families, which was grown to such a height, and so deadly was the enmity between them, that it extended to the remotest kindred, to the followers and retainers of both sides, insomuch that a servant of the house of Montague could not meet a servant of the house of Capulet."
Charles and Mary Lamb are remembered for their Tales from Shakespeare, though they also adapted several other stories for young readers. They were institutionalized on and off throughout their lives, and Mary Lamb stabbed their mother to death during one of her many breakdowns.
Tales from Shakespeare includes adaptations of all the Bard's most famous plays, and also a few of the less famous ones like Timon of Athens and Cymbeline. On the whole it makes for fairly repetitive reading, given the cases of mistaken identity, women disguising themselves as men, siblings separated in infancy, and surprise marriages that proliferate in Shakespeare's plays. The most famous of his plays still entertain, but the lesser-known entries suffer from a reduction to plot points. In these lesser-known entries it is Shakespeare's poetry that made them famous, and in the absence of this poetry they become tiresome and predictable.
This book is an easy read, but it's a far cry from the real Shakespeare. Kids wanting to learn about his plays would do better to seek out movie adaptations, and adults would find Shakespeare's original works to be more profitable reading.
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