Stanley, Diane and Peter Vennema. 1992. Bard of Avon: The story of William Shakespeare. Illustrated by Diane Stanley. New York: Morrow Junior Books. ISBN: 0-688-09109-1.
Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare is a biography by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema. It seeks to give children a basic overview of the life and times of William Shakespeare. The difficulty being � as she clearly states�that there are not many facts known about his life. It is difficult to give a comprehensive and accurate overview of someone's life when the facts of one's life remain unknown and ambiguous. Each biography of Shakespeare reports facts a bit differently. However, despite the uncertainty of some of these facts presented in the book, it does give an overview of Shakespeare's time well. The reader learns basic information about theatres, actors, acting companies, playwrights, audiences, etc. In that respect, I believe the book succeeds. Another strength is the books presentation of the different types of plays written by Shakespeare. In other words, a brief overview of comedies, tragedies, history plays are given. Each of Shakespeare's major plays is discussed briefly. It would give a very brief�yet comprehensive�introduction to one of the most famous playwrights in history. But it is far from thorough. Much of the text is speculation, educated guesses, and commentary. It is full of maybes and perhaps. Granted, there are very few verifiable facts about Shakespeare. And what is not verifiable can only be speculated on�writers can fill in the blanks with what they think most likely to be true. Perhaps what I most disliked was the fact that literary commentary was included in the text in such a way that it might be taken as more than just an opinion. For example, when Shakespeare was writing tragedies and more serious drama she adds that he had probably come to think badly of mankind(33). As an English major I am accustomed to commentary, but not commentary without support. There were many other statements�for example on his marriage�that bothered me in some respects. How can we judge the state of his marriage when there are no facts or evidence to say that he was happy, unhappy, etc. (Not that Stanley would be the first or last to speculate on Shakespeare's love life. )
The illustrations of Bard of Avon are incredible. They are beautiful and compliment the text well. They illustrate key concepts of the text much better than the words actually do. For example, its illustrations of the theatre�various special effects�are incredible. The illustrations are bright and colorful. They depict the key places, concepts, people, and plays discussed in the text. If the book has a saving grace�it is in the illustrations.
Overall, I find the book somewhat enjoyable. The illustrations are wonderful. In my Shakespeare course, I used the illustrations from this book in my presentation. But I did see some flaws with the text itself. I found it to be speculative. However, in its defense, I must add that children would probably approach it differently. To someone who is just beginning to learn about Shakespeare�the book may be a perfect beginning place. It would definitely be a lot more reader-friendly than many of the other biographies available.