I honestly cannot believe it took me this long to find this book. Pass judgment if you like, but I'm a bit of a Shakespeare geek.
This book right here (above) is responsible for my introduction to and love of his words. I remember sinking into one of my parents down stuffed chairs (you know, the old fashioned fancy living room kind), bored as could be on a rainy afternoon and flipping through the pages. Twelfth Night was the play I settled on, and to this day it's still my favorite.
So you can imagine my happy dance when I discovered this little gem. Well written, knowledgeable, and best of all, accessible. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare is a fantastic addition to any library.
But that's not really the point of the book. Yes, it's great. But this book brings up to the surface an aspect of education that seems to be falling through the cracks, memorization. I mean what's the point these days? You can just look it up on your smart phone. Well, obviously there is a point. The focus and attention it takes to memorize a piece of text as complex as Shakespeare is the same as it takes to succeed in any academic realm. So why not start early?
Author Ken Ludwig believes that memorization is the best way to learn the text of one of the greatest writers the world has ever known. Not only that, but learning Shakespeare as a child instills a foundation in analytic thought and gives little ones cultural references that will last a lifetime. Lastly, this is a book that parents and children are meant to read together. It's time well spent learning from each other, and really, what's better than that?
Which is why we want one of you lovely readers to have a copy! To win a copy of How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, simply leave a comment on this post by Thursday, October 15th at 10am. The winner will be chosen by the lovely Random Number Generator and announced later that day.
And the winner is Aaren who wrote:
"Wow! This looks so cool!"
Thank you to everyone who participated!
~ Jordan
