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The Adventures of Robin Hood

by: Marcia Williams

October 01, 2007
My 5 year old son was given this book for Christmas along with a Robin Hood outfit. He loves to be read the stories over and over again and is equally happy to sit and flick through the pages for himself, them being full of quirky little illustrations - hes always able to spot something hes not noticed before.I feel this series of books by Marcia Williams are very well suited to boys (or girls) who may be find it hard to sit and listen to a story without plenty of illustration, as they are kept engaged by the colourful and detailed pictures filling every page. My son has now requested others in the series, so thats why I'nm on here shopping for more by Marcia Williams - what a great way to educate our youngsters on the great myths, legends, ... Read More:

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Mr. William Shakespeare's Plays

by: Marcia Williams

April 03, 2000
Simplified versions of Shakespeare's plays, very cleverly re-told in cartoon strips, that helps bring them to life for children (and adults) to understand.

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King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

by: Marcia Williams

May 05, 1997
One of Marcia Wiliams' best titles. This is a retelling of a dozen of the Arthurian legends, done with energy and verve. Young children will love the bold illustrations, especially the panoramic view of Camelot, packed with humorous detail, and the Round Table. There's also a dragon belching forth fire all over our hero, Sir Lancelot, whose limbs stretch over half of a double-page spread.

Magical!

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Greek Myths

by: Marcia Williams

October 02, 2006
This is not quite the best of Marcia Williams's books, but it's still an attractive, humorous treatment of eight myths with the inimitable Williams strip-cartoon providing the backdrop. The stories move along by means of narrative and speech-bubble type dialogue.

This is an excellent first introduction to stories that form part of the world's cultural store of knowledge and that parents and young children can share and have fun with.

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Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare!

by: Marcia Williams

October 08, 2001
The format of this is a little different from most of of Marcia Wiliams' treatment of famous tales. Though done with all the author's accustomed energy and verve, the usual format of narrative strip cartoons supplemented by the characters' speech bubbles has a third dimension provided by comments from the "audience" at the Globe Theatre, London.

This keeps the young reader on his/her toes and provides a super intro to Shakespeare. The illustrations are interesting in that the author has chosen a distinctive colour palette for each play - thus As You Like It is done predominantly in oranges and blues, Antony and Cleo in orange and turquoise, Twelfth Night in pink, green and plum, The Merchant of Venice in cherry and grey etc.
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The Iliad and the Odyssey

by: Marcia Williams

October 02, 2006
One of Marcia Wiliams' best titles. This is a retelling of 30 or so episodes from Homer, done with the author's accustomed energy and verve. Young children will love the bold illustrations, especially Achilles in drag, Scylla, the Sirens, Polyphemus and a Trojan Horse packed with humorous detail that must have taken the author weeks to complete on its own.

No child could fail to be stimulated by these tales, and would not want to pursue them at at deeper level when older.

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Archie's War

by: Marcia Williams

November 05, 2007
What was it like to be a child growing up in an ordinary family during the First World War? Organised like a scrapbook, this exciting book tells of the big shapes of the conflict and the way the war years were experienced by thirteen-year-old Archie and his family in London. There is a broadly chronological organisation: the events and privations of the early stages of the war and how these impacted on Archie and his family; Uncle Teddy's experiences in the trenches; the bombing of London; the final stages of the conflict, and then peace. These are conveyed and made credible for young readers by the main linking narrative in Archie's `voice'. Marcia Williams shows that the comic strip form can convey the full range of human situations and emotions ... Read More:

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Oliver Twist and Other Great Dickens Stories

by: Marcia Williams

December 03, 2007
What was it like to be a child growing up in an ordinary family during the First World War? Organised like a scrapbook, this exciting book tells of the big shapes of the conflict and the way the war years were experienced by thirteen-year-old Archie and his family in London. There is a broadly chronological organisation: the events and privations of the early stages of the war and how these impacted on Archie and his family; Uncle Teddy's experiences in the trenches; the bombing of London; the final stages of the conflict, and then peace. These are conveyed and made credible for young readers by the main linking narrative in Archie's `voice'. Marcia Williams shows that the comic strip form can convey the full range of human situations and emotions ... Read More:

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Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

by: Marcia Williams

February 05, 2007
This brilliant picture book tells nine of the better known tales from Chaucer's medieval classic, each one energetically repackaged into a brief, lively episode with simple modern-English prose and bright witty comic-strip illustrations.
The original Canterbury Tales was a collection of stories written by Chaucer in the 14th century, in Middle English and mostly in verse. Those tales, written for adults not children, were a mixture of originals and retellings within an outer story - a group of very different characters on a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury each told a tale to while away the time on the journey.
This book is an inspirational approach as it makes this classic text enticing to a wide range of twenty-first century readers. ... Read More:

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Greek Myths

by: Marcia Williams

October 13, 1994
This is not quite the best of Marcia Williams's books, but it's still an attractive, humorous treatment of eight myths with the inimitable Williams strip-cartoon providing the backdrop. The stories move along by means of narrative and speech-bubble type dialogue.

This is an excellent first introduction to stories that form part of the world's cultural store of knowledge and that parents and young children can share and have fun with.