WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
adapted by Bruce Coville & illustrated by Dennis Nolan
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ($16.99; PLB $16.89; Oct. 1996; 48 pp.; 0-8037-1784-6; PLB 0-8037-1785-7): Coville (Fortune's Journey, 1995, etc.) gracefully retells this famous comedy, retaining just enough of Shakespeare's language to lend a sense of the world of the play without overwhelming picture- book readers. Nolan conjures a magical world of Mediterranean-blue skies and gloomy enchanted forests, helpfully including endpaper portraits of the cast of characters. As an introduction to the real thing, this may be useful to older readers who want to have the plot and characters in mind before they enter Shakespeare's realm. (Picture book. 7+)