William Shakespeare
1) The tempest
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9 - AR Pts: 3
Lexile measure
NC 1070L
Language
English
Description
A storm strikes a ship carrying Alonso, Ferdinand, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Stephano, and Trinculo, who are on their way to Italy after coming from the wedding of Alonso's daughter, Claribel, to the prince of Tunis in Africa. The royal party and the other mariners, with the exception of the unflappable Boatswain, begin to fear for their lives. Lightning cracks, and the mariners cry that the ship has been hit. Everyone prepares to sink.
2) Macbeth
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.9 - AR Pts: 4
Lexile measure
310L
Language
English
Description
This complete, line-by-line Macbeth translation makes the language of Shakespeare's play more modern while preserving the metrical rhythm, complexity, and poetic qualities of the original. The aim is to capture the sound and sense of Shakespeare's tragedy without the need for glosses or notes--to use contemporary language without simplifying or modernizing the play in any other way.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.1 - AR Pts: 4
Language
English
Formats
Description
Includes: freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play; full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play; scene-by-scene plot summaries; a key to famous lines and phrases; an introduction to reading Shakespeare's language; an essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play; and illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.2 - AR Pts: 5
Lexile measure
NC 1110L
Language
English
Description
The King of France gives Helena the hand of any man she wants in marriage, but the one she chooses, Bertram, flees to Tuscany, and she must use her wits to get him back. Includes an introduction, notes, and discussion of the theatrical world of Shakespeare.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.8 - AR Pts: 4
Lexile measure
1340L
Language
English
Description
The Oxford School Shakespeare has become the preferred introduction to the literary legacy of the greatest playwright in the English language. This exclusive collection of the Bard's best works has been designed specifically for readers new to Shakespeare's rich literary legacy. Each play is presented complete and unabridged. Every book is well illustrated, and starts with a commentary and character summary, Scene synopses and character summaries...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.4 - AR Pts: 4
Lexile measure
1380L
Language
English
Description
"Believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598, William Shakespeare's “The Merchant of Venice” is considered by some critics as one of his “problem plays.” The controversy over the work stems from its portrayal of the character Shylock, a rich Jewish moneylender. The stereotypical depiction of Jews as avaricious usurers was common to the drama of the Elizabethan period. The story centers on the love of Bassanio, a young Venetian nobleman,...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.9 - AR Pts: 3
Lexile measure
AD 600L
Language
English
Description
Mischief is in the air when the King and Queen of the Fairies quarrel and Puck is left in charge of the love potion. Four young people are lost in the woods on midsummer's night. Will they find each other and true love, or will Puck's meddling leave them broken-hearted and alone? A band of players prepares to entertain the Duke of Athens. But now that the fairies have made a donkey out of their leading man, will Quince and the others ever get to play...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.8 - AR Pts: 6
Lexile measure
GN 470L
Language
English
Description
Completely re-edited, the New Folger Library edition of Shakespeare's plays puts readers in touch with current ways of thinking about Shakespeare. Each freshly edited text is based directly on what the editors consider the best early printed version of the play.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.8 - AR Pts: 6
Language
English
Description
Shakespeare may have written Julius Caesar as the first of his plays to be performed at the Globe, in 1599. For it, he turned to a key event in Roman history: Caesar's death at the hands of friends and fellow politicians. Renaissance writers disagreed over the assassination, seeing Brutus, a leading conspirator, as either hero or villain. Shakespeare's play keeps this debate alive.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.5 - AR Pts: 7
Language
English
Formats
Description
This edition includes freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play, with full explanatory notes, scene-by-scene plot summaries, and a key to famous lines and passages that make the Bard come to life for all readers.
A young prince, called home for the funeral of his father, begins to suspect that his father's sudden death was not an accident.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.4 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Formats
Description
Presents the Shakespeare tragedy in which Othello, a Moorish general, is led by a jealous and evil ensign to believe his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful. Includes explanatory notes, scene summaries,and other reference tools, as well as illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's holdings.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.6 - AR Pts: 4
Language
English
Formats
Description
Named for the twelfth night after Christmas, the end of the Christmas season, Twelfth Night plays with love and power. The Countess Olivia, a woman with her own household, attracts Duke (or Count) Orsino. Two other would-be suitors are her pretentious steward, Malvolio, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Onto this scene arrive the twins Viola and Sebastian; caught in a shipwreck, each thinks the other has drowned. Viola disguises herself as a male page and...
13) As you like it
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.2 - AR Pts: 4
Lexile measure
NC 1120L
Language
English
Description
"Readers and audiences have long greeted As You Like It with delight. Its characters are brilliant conversationalists, including the princesses Rosalind and Celia and their Fool, Touchstone. Soon after Rosalind and Orlando meet and fall in love, the princesses and Touchstone go into exile in the Forest of Arden, where they find new conversational partners. Duke Frederick, younger brother to Duke Senior, has overthrown his brother and forced him to...
14) Henry V
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 11.9 - AR Pts: 6
Language
English
Description
"Henry V is Shakespeare's most famous “war play”; it includes the storied English victory over the French at Agincourt. Some of it glorifies war, especially the choruses and Henry's speeches urging his troops into battle. But we also hear bishops conniving for war to postpone a bill that would tax the church, and soldiers expecting to reap profits from the conflict. Even in the speeches of Henry and his nobles, there are many chilling references...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.6 - AR Pts: 4
Language
English
Description
Love's Labours Lost - William Shakespeare - Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as they attempt to forswear the company of women for three years of study and fasting, and their subsequent infatuation with the Princess of Aquitaine and her ladies. In...
16) Henry IV, part 2
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.6 - AR Pts: 5
Lexile measure
1470L
Language
English
Formats
Description
Powerful rebels are mustering their forces to topple the aging King Henry IV from his throne. Their success seems assured because the dying king cannot depend upon his son and heir Prince Hal. Instead, King Henry relies on the aid of the latest war hero Sir John Falstaff...and the kingdom is soon in for a big surprise.
17) HENRY IV, PART 1
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.3 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Formats
Description
The second play in William Shakespeare's tetralogy of plays which also includes "Richard II", "Henry IV, Part 2", and "Henry V", "Henry IV, Part 1" is believed to have been written no later than 1597. A history play, the drama concerns the unquiet reign of Henry Bolingbroke. Following the usurpation of the throne, Henry IV is plagued with guilt over his role in the imprisonment and death of King Richard II. In order to resolve himself of this internal...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.9 - AR Pts: 4
Lexile measure
NC 1020L
Language
English
Description
Presents Shakespeare's drama about a man who kills the king of Scotland in order to claim the throne for himself, and includes explanatory notes, plot summaries, a key to notable lines and phrases, and other reference information.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.6 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Formats
Description
Presents the text of Shakespeare's drama about Romeo and Juliet, two young people whose love is doomed by their warring families, and includes explanatory notes, plot summaries, a key to famous lines and phrases, a modern perspective on the play, and other reference tools.
Author
Pub. Date
[1998]
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.5 - AR Pts: 7
Language
English
Description
"A thoroughly revised mass-market edition of the Bard's best-loved tragedy includes information on the early texts of the play and its sources, critical commentaries past and present, a stage and screen history of notable productions, and notes."--Amazon.