Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare through YA Lit
400 Years Strong!
The year 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s first Folio, published in 1623! It contains 36 of his plays that might have otherwise been lost to time if his friends hadn’t published it 7 years after his death. Finish off 2023 by celebrating Shakespeare!
These YA books listed below are based upon or have taken inspiration from William Shakespeare’s work. Stop by the YA room and check them out before the year is over!
Inspired by Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, Romeo & Juliet, and King Lear
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Enter the Body by Joy McCullough: “At once tender, poetic and ferocious, Enter The Body breathes new life into the Bard’s most tragic heroines. This kaleidoscopic, ambitious novel-in-verse gives Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia the chance to tell their own stories full of passion, justice, sisterhood, and love.” |
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Inspired by Macbeth
| As I Descended by Robin Talley: A thrilling story of revenge and redemption!
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Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin: This is a bloody, thrilling revenge fantasy for the girls who have had enough. Golden boys beware: something wicked this way comes.
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Inspired by Romeo and Juliet
| Between You, Me, and the Honeybees by Amelia Diane Coombs: A modern story of star-crossed lovers and secret flings!
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Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew
| If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberley: An adorable YA romance where the main character herself takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew. |  |
Inspired by Much Ado About Nothing
| Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman: All is not what it seems in this story of mistaken identities, crazy summer high jinks, and enough romance to make Shakespeare proud. |  |
Inspired by Twelfth Night
| The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake: reimagining Twelfth Night as the story of a fractured family dealing with a legacy of mystery and mental illness, this book muses on tragedy, grief, mental illness, love and friendship.
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Inspired by Othello
| New Boy by Tracy Chevalier: The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970’s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers.
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Inspired by King Lear
| Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry: an aching, magical novel that is one part family drama, one part ghost story, and one part love story. The title comes from a line in King Lear, where his daughters are decried as barbaric for their treatment of their father.
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We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: a smash-up of King Lear and Wuthering Heights, it’s a story of a distinguished and privileged families, their lies, their loves, and the truth.
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