Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Ted Hendricks, Luisa Moreno, K. C. Porter, Daphne Zuniga, Francisco Goldman, Guatemalan American, Willie Sims, Manny Marroquin, Hector-Neri Castañeda, Bridget Powers, Ryan Spilborghs, Oscar Isaac, David Campos, Estuardo Sanchez, Norma Torres, Benito Martinez, David Estrada, David Unger, Luis Beza, Hector Tobar, Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, Anton Villatoro. Excerpt:Anthon Villatoro (born June 20, 1970) is a Guatemalan former professional cyclist . He attended the University of Colorado , where he raced with future US Postal teammate Tyler Hamilton . Villatoro won the 1991 Junior Tour of Guatemala, a gold medal at the 1994 Central American Games (team time trial) and placed fourth at the 1995 Pan American Games (time trial). In 1996, he represented Guatemala at the Olympic Games in Atlanta . He raced for the US Postal Service Cycling Team from 1996-1998 and then served as team captain for Team 7-UP from 1999 to 2000. He retired in 2001 to pursue business interests. References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Benito Martinez Benito Martinez (born June 28, 1963) is an American actor known as police captain (later city councilman) David Aceveda in FX Networks ' acclaimed crime drama The Shield . Additionally, he has voiced Coyote Smith in the video game Killer7 as well as a number of characters in the PC game Age of Empires III , and played a criminal on Firefly . He also had a featured role as a boxing manager in the critical and commercial hit film Million Dollar Baby . He was also an extra on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Salazar. Benito trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA ) in Earls Court London England and was in the same class as the actor, Zen Gesner and actress Julie Hesmondhalgh . Martinez cu... ... Read more

Product Description
Emily Dickinson was born into a prominent New England family. Sociable as a child, she grew increasingly withdrawn, and in later years became known as a recluse. Only seven of her poems were published during her lifetime. After Emily's death in 1886, her sister discovered the bulk of her poems and began publishing them, thus establishing Emily Dickinson as one of the greatest poets of the English language.Amazon.com Review
At the age of 23, Emily Dickinson receded from the socialwhirl of her prominent family into semiseclusion. For the remaining 23years of her life she was happiest when alone and writing. As sherequested in "The Prayer," "Great Spirit, give to me a heaven not solarge as yours, but large enough for me." Read by a group of verytalented celebrity women such as Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, and AlfreWoodard, these pieces lean toward the somber side of Dickinson's work(which, as her fans know, is very somber indeed). Poems include"Shipwreck," "Will There Really Be a Morning?" and "To Know Just HowHe Suffered." (Running time: 45 minutes, 1 cassette)--C.B. Delaney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

What A Disappointment
A CD that contains fifty poems of my favorite poet read in part by perhaps my favorite actress Meryl Streep-- now that's a CD you can tip your hat to-- well not exactly. If there ever was a poet whose works do not need background music while being read, it has to be those of Miss Dickinson. If we have to have music connected with the poems, we can listen to those poems that Aaron Copland and Ned Rorem set to music. The music on this CD had become pretty much a mild aggravation, a little like getting two radio stations on a car radio late at night, when on poem number 33, "The Lonely House," I recognized Robert Schumann's famous "Traumeri"as the music swelled. There is no excuse for this.

The editors have allowed themselves to name some of the poems included here. Anyone who has ever read Dickinson knows that she never named any of her poems and that they are usually identified by first lines.It also would have been convenient for the listener if the words to the poems had been included with the CD. They are not. Neither are we told which reader is reading what poem. (In addition to Ms. Streep, Glenda Jackson, Stephanie Beacham and Sharon Stone read as well. While I recognize Glenda Jackson's voice and Ms. Streep's sometimes, I do not have the faintest idea what either Sharon Stone or Stephanie Beacham's voices sound like. I would gladly have paid more for a better produced CD.

Even all these shortcomings cannot mar the beauty of these rich and wonderful poems with such lines as "the sordid excellence as paradise" if they could just turn off the music!And many of Miss Dickinson's lesser-known poems are included, along with some of those most often anthologized, including my favorite poem "The Bustle in a House."

Dickinson was before her time
I've never been into poetry before but Ms Dickinson's poems just blow me away.The readers are perfect for the job - they put emotion and energy into the words making the CD a pleasure to listen to.Highly recommended.

Excellent Readings, But NOT the Poems Listed on the CD
These witty, sly, despairing performances breathe new life and new perspectives into the poems and the poet. Unfortunately, the poems listed on the back of the CD are NOT the poems you hear on the CD, which makes it difficult to know which actress is reading and exactly what she is reading. It's also impossible to directly access a poem directly --- everything falls under a 45 minute Track 1. Finally, this is Fifty Poems of Emily Dickinson, Volume 3. What happened to Volumes 1 and 2? I saw them once as cassettes, but never as CDs.

Perfect marriage of medium and message
Joan Allen, of all people, emerges as the stand out in this collection of wonderfully nuanced readings of poet Emily Dickinson's deceptively simple poems on nature and human truths. Just terrific!

The delivery is as smooth as Emily's poems
If you like Emily Dickenson (and I do) you will love this audio cassette. The readers include Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, and other great female talents. They read the poems with style and a subtility that matches the work of the poet. After hearing the presentations, I came away feeling that the poems were studied by the readers and for the most part understood and delivered accordingly. Thumbs up! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: H. Altemus Co. in 1900 in 87 pages; Subjects: Children; Conduct of life; Children's stories; Drama / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Drama / Shakespeare; Literary Criticism / Shakespeare; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Veeeerrrry short. Lovely illustrations. Note for educators: list of all plays at end of review
The stories are quite short as mentioned above, but still wonderful. And yet, I would not have minded a little more meat, even for the young listeners & readers. I look at these stories as a whetting of the appetite and mental preparation for the real and better thing.

One of my frustrations while trying to decide whether or not I should purchase this book was the lack of a complete list of the "plays" contained in the collection. I want to share them with you along with short notes regarding how they appear in the book:

The Winter's Tale: 8 pages, with a little over 2 pages of dialogue.
Romeo and Juliet: 10 pages, about 2 pages of dialog.
The Tempest: 4 page long synopsis, with good summary quote at the end.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: 7 pages with about 4 pages of dialogue.
King Lear: 8 pages with about 2 pages of dialogue.
Cymbeline: 8 pages with about 6 pages of dialogue.
The Taming of the Shrew: 9 pages, 5 pages of dialogue
Hamlet: 8 pages, 2 and a half of dialogue
Twelfth Night: 8 pages, 7 of dialogue
As You Like It: 8 pages, 5 of dialogue.
Pericles: 8 pages, 1 of dialogue. Basically a synopsis.

Shakespeare for kids fun for any age
This book is loads of fun! I bought it for my third grader, who is taking a field trip to see "Romeo and Juliet." I wanted him to have some familiarity with the storyline so he wouldn't be yawning cluelessly by the end of Act I. He loved it so much he wanted to discuss it! Even my husband who hates to read the stuff enjoyed it.
In short, the book is well done. It shortens the plays into a very long story-summary without the dramatic language that can be somewhat of a distraction. We're not talking Cliff's Notes here folks.This is just a handful of pages per play written on a level anyone can understand and enjoy. The book is not long so it's not intimidating. (Have you seen any books containing Shakespeare's complete works, lately? Mine could be used for a doorstop! It's huge!)
We paired this book with the comedy of "The Reduced Shakespeare Company's" version of Romeo and Juliet. My son is actually looking forward to the trip!

Fantastic introduction to Shakespeare for younger children
I read and reread this book as a youth. The stories read much like classic fairy tales with tragedy, irony, and moral lessons. The writing is very accessible and encouraged me to seek out the full length "stories" in their original (play script) form once I was old enough (6th/7th grade) to really read them.

For a child who has a love of literature, these retellings of the great plays may start a life-long interest in Shakespeare's art (as they did for me).

Lorenzo Schiavo and Felipe Gravier
Romeo and Juliet

Felipe Gravier and Lorenzo Schiavo review:

We think that Romeo and Juliet tells the story of two star-crossed lovers whose families are in a terrible fight which prevents them from coming together. How far the couple will go to be together becomes the focus of the story. Of his richest poetry. The opening and closing choruses are some of his most outstanding work. Romeo's It is a brilliant love story but not much more. It still possesses however some wooing of Juliet is fabulously written. The Friar gets the best lines. Mercutio is one the best friends of Romeo. It is not as good as Shakespeare has written but it's still a fabulous book and up there with his best work. One part of the play we didn't like was that for the tow families get arrange there two kids had to die.
The English language wasn't finally finished so Shakespeare had the liberty to create words and play with the language, as he liked. That's why It was so difficult to understand what each character wanted to express so the teacher had to explain us each of that words and teach us all the words in that age and told us which were the words in the English of today.

Interesting Storys
This book provides lots of Shakespeare's Storys like "A Midsummer's Night Dream" and "Hamlet" with a children's fairy tale twist. The storys are the same as Shakespeare's, but easier for children to understand.My favorite story was Hamlet because I had just seen the play.A while after we read Children's Shakespeare and it helped me to understandHamlet better. ... Read more