WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Robin Johnson CRABTREE Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com
Much Ado About Nothing William the Great William Shakespeare is called the greatest English writer of all time Students read his work in classrooms everywhere His plays are performed on stages and screens around the globe But is Shakespeare really that great Or is it much ado about nothing Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers in the world 4
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING No Great Shakes Shakespeare lived about 400 years ago He used a quill dipped in ink to write his plays and poems He used language that sounds old and strange to us today So why should we bother reading his work Does Shakespeare still matter What’s in a name Shakespeare is called The Bard and The Swan of Avon A bard is a poet Avon is the town where he grew up In Shakespeare’s time people wrote everything by hand They used large feathers called quills as pens ado fuss or foolish talk 5
