Macbeth The Young Reader's Shakespeare by Adam McKeown

Macbeth (The Young Reader's Shakespeare) by Adam McKeown is a retelling of Shakespeare's famous play, Macbeth, using easier language and illustrated by Lynne Cannoy. The story is about general Macbeth. Returning from a victorious battle, Macbeth and his friend (and fellow general) Banquo are visited by three witches who tell their future. Macbeth, having been an honorable, trustworthy man before, turns into a vengeful tyrant as he seeks out his future. He kills the king of Scotland so he can be named king himself. He kills the other generals who had been his friends and companions. He becomes so paranoid, he seeks out the witches again. Again, they foretell a prophecy, which Macbeth misunderstands making him beileve he in invincible. It is this belief that eventually causes his downfall.

I had never read Macbeth before, so I didn't know the story before reading this version. This was an excellent, quick read and made me want to read Shakespeare's own version! It is a bit on the mature side due to violence, however. I would recommend this version of Macbeth to anyone who is nervous about tackling Shakespeare, but wants to know the story!

Into the Gauntlet (The 39 Clues Series #10) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix is the final book in the 39 Clues Series. In this novel, Amy and Dan find themselves following leads to Shakespeare's final resting place. All of the other family members are hot on their trail and have actually resorted to following them to find the clues! It turns out that all of the 5 family branches (Tomas, Janus, Ekaterina, Lucian, and Madrigal, named after the 5 children of Olivia and Gideon Cahill) have 38 of the clues between them - if they would just get along and share, they could easily solve the entire mystery together. Unfortunately, the majority of the Cahills are cut-throat, greedy, and uninterested in "bonding". Amy and Dan have been asked to do just that - reunite the descendants of Gideon and Olivia Cahill. They are convinced that finding the last clue will give them enough power to convince the other teams to unite, but they'll have to survive The Gauntlet and their competition first!

This was an AWESOME ending to the series! Like the other books in the series, it was filled with action, adventure, mystery, and some interesting historical facts. I absolutely loved the way the story came together and I'm really happy with the end. I am really excited to read the new series about another family who has also been after the Cahill Clues. The first book, Vespers Rising comes out in April, 2011.

The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper

The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper is about Kate, a high school student who wins an essay contest about her favorite Shakespeare play and is invited to spend the summer in Italy studying Romeo and Juliet. Her friends in the United States are confident that Kate will fall in love over the summer, but prim and proper Kate is equally as sure of the opposite. Kate and her father end up staying at the mansion of the world's foremost expert on Shakespeare (much to her father's chagrin, for he fancies himself as the foremost expert). While there she meets many friends who have also been selected to participate in the summer seminar, including Silvia, a dark and brooding Italian beauty, and Giacomo, a playboy who is only interested in flirting. Silvia and her friends hatch a plan to get back at Giacomo for his flirtatious ways and force him and Kate to fall in love. Kate just happens to overhear the plan, and she and Giacomo create their own plan instead: to pretend that they've fallen in love and then expose the others' plot.

This was a fun read. I don't know too much about Shakespeare's other plays, but I enjoyed the references to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, and of course, Romeo and Juliet. All of the winners of the contest end up falling for someone unexpected and the story has a very happy ending!

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is about the relationships between two different couples. Hero is the daughter of the governer of Messina, Leonato. She falls for Claudio, the closest friend of Prince Don Pedro. The make plans to be married, but in a fit of jealousy, Don Pedro's brother, Don John hatches a plan to separate the happy couple. Meanwhile, Benedick, another friend of the prince, has decided to never love and never marry. Beatrice, Hero's cousin, has professed the same thing. Without their knowledge, their friends make plans to get the two together. By the end of the story they have fallen for one another and make plans to marry!

This was the final book I read for my daughter's book club. I have never read any of Shakespeare's other works, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found this book to be a fun look at life, love, and relationships during the 1600s! There was so much plotting, treachery, and trickery, that I found myself excited to find out what would happen in the end!