In these early examples and in more recent efforts to adapt Shakespeare for young people-such as Imagined the childhood and adolescent years of the heroines for young Victorian women. There is, of course, a long history of revising Shakespeare in order to better introduce young readers to the plays.Įxcised or softened objectionable elements, while Cowden Clarke’s (1850) There, they become an ideal vehicle for teachers who seek to enable their students not only to identify with the plays’ characters, but to critique their themes. We believe these novels belong not merely in libraries, but also in the secondary classroom. Indeed, they have already gone “viral.” Yet, young readers are far more likely to encounter one of these novels in the public library or from a friend than in the classroom. ), these works represent an effort by contemporary young adult novelists to refigure the plays for young readers.īecause of their fiery and likable heroines, extended love scenes, and frequent and heated disagreements between the main characters and authority figures, these novels seem to perform as chick lit for young adult readers. So tantalizingly presented by Shakespeare’s plays.

May seem like an isolated instance of our ongoing engagement with the In it, an intelligent Ophelia uses a sleeping potion to fake her drowning death and, with Hamlet, escapes the corruption of Denmark for-where else?-Verona. What if Ophelia had been more like the assertive Juliet? Might she have been able to save Hamlet and her nation from tragedy? “Yes,” answers the young adult novel Why Young Adult Novelizations Belong in the Classroom

Saving juliet by suzanne selfors