Lois Burdett was an elementary school teacher in Canada who found herself in a town where every public school was named after a work of Shakespeare, and yet her students knew nothing of the Bard! The books in this series contain her work to present Shakespeare to her very young (second grades) students. Not much original Shakespeare here besides the stories, as the text recreates the famous plays in simple rhyming couplets. I find these books to be cute and a good option for the introduction of Shakespeare to younger elementary school age children--and I bet some adults, like me, will greatly enjoy them as well! The truly delightful drawings and illustrations are made by the author's young students. Lois Burdett actually presented each of these plays and there are photos of the crews in splendid costumes, although I'd like to see a video sometime... Most Shakespeare plays are in this series. Several volumes have very nice, positive forewords by well-known actors who have performed Shakespeare roles on film such as Danzel Washington and Kenneth Branagh. Here's an excerpt from the latter's foreword: "Lois Burdett and her extremely talented and imaginative group of children have managed the impossible: the story of Hamlet, refreshingly retold".