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mudder17's review
3.0
3-3.5 stars. I think some kids would enjoy this, but of my students reading this book, it's probably a hit or a miss. I thought it was an enjoyable little story and I liked reading about the growth of the main character as he learned what was truly "proper" behavior and what was not and what it means to be a family.
iceangel9's review
4.0
The first book in The Shakespeare Stealer series. Widge is an orphan, he is given as an apprentice to a country doctor who creates his own unique "secret script". One night he is bought by a frightening cloaked man and ordered to make a copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet for a rival theater company. When his copy is stolen, Widge becomes a part of the Globe players and is ordered to steal the play. As Widge gets to know the Shakespearean players, he discovers what it means to have a family. Will he steal the play to save himself or stick with his new "family". A wonderfully charming piece of historical fiction that brings Shakespeare's England to life.
thebookfrog's review
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
The rollicking story of Widge, a 14-year-old apprentice sent by his new master to London to steal Hamlet, the latest play by William Shakespeare. Luckily things go awry and instead of being a pirate Widge is taken in by the troupe and becomes a player. The Shakespeare Stealer is a delightful story and a well-told one. Gary Blackwood does a wonderful job of immersing the reader in the world of the 16th century while keeping it accessible to young readers.
brucefarrar's review
5.0
Widge is delighted when Dr. Bright takes him away from the orphanage in Yorkshire at age seven to be his apprentice. Vain, melancholy and unaffectionate Dr. Bright educates Widge to read and write in English, Latin, and a kind of shorthand of Dr. Bright’s invention called “charactery,” and then sells his apprenticeship to a brooding, gruff, mysterious, silent, and deadly stranger when Widge is fourteen. Eventually Widge comes to know him as Falconer. Without hesitation Falconer marches Widge off south. They travel day and night, Falconer warning Widge to keep quiet, and also cutting the throats of a few cutpurses along the way who attempt to waylay them. Eventually they arrive in Leicester, and Widge meets his new master, Simon Bass. Mr. Bass explains his new duties to him. He’s to travel to London.
“…When you go to London, you will attend a performance of a play called The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. You will copy it in Dr. Bright’s ‘charactery’ and you will deliver it to me.”
“… I am a man of business, Widge, and one of my more profitable ventures is a company of players. They are not so successful as the Lord Chamberlain’s of the Admiral’s Men, by they do a respectable business here in the Midlands. As they have no competent poet of their own they make do with hand-me-downs, so well used as to be threadbare. If they could sage a current work, by a poet of some reputation, they could double their box.”
So, accompanied by Falconer, Widge sets off to London to capture a copy of the play. He puts the penny Falconer supplies him with, in the admission box at the Globe, and joins the crowd of groundlings in front of the stage. His transcription goes well, until he gets caught up in the play, and forgets to write down some parts. The next day, to save a penny—they were worth a lot more then—he sneaks in backstage to listen to the lines. Unfortunately he’s discovered . So he makes up a lie. He tells the theater company that he desperately wants to be a player and has run away from his master in the hope of joining them. To his surprise, they take him in. Now he must act the part of a player until he gets an opportunity to complete his copy of the script, or steal the copy owned by the company.
Well developed characters, a believable sense of place, and an interesting plot filled with surprises and disguises pack this exceptionally good tale of Elizabethan theater full of verisimilitude and delight.
“…When you go to London, you will attend a performance of a play called The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. You will copy it in Dr. Bright’s ‘charactery’ and you will deliver it to me.”
“… I am a man of business, Widge, and one of my more profitable ventures is a company of players. They are not so successful as the Lord Chamberlain’s of the Admiral’s Men, by they do a respectable business here in the Midlands. As they have no competent poet of their own they make do with hand-me-downs, so well used as to be threadbare. If they could sage a current work, by a poet of some reputation, they could double their box.”
So, accompanied by Falconer, Widge sets off to London to capture a copy of the play. He puts the penny Falconer supplies him with, in the admission box at the Globe, and joins the crowd of groundlings in front of the stage. His transcription goes well, until he gets caught up in the play, and forgets to write down some parts. The next day, to save a penny—they were worth a lot more then—he sneaks in backstage to listen to the lines. Unfortunately he’s discovered . So he makes up a lie. He tells the theater company that he desperately wants to be a player and has run away from his master in the hope of joining them. To his surprise, they take him in. Now he must act the part of a player until he gets an opportunity to complete his copy of the script, or steal the copy owned by the company.
Well developed characters, a believable sense of place, and an interesting plot filled with surprises and disguises pack this exceptionally good tale of Elizabethan theater full of verisimilitude and delight.
mitslits's review
4.0
It was pretty good all and all. I had to read it for a project but the story itself was fantastic. I do think that Widge should have just told the truth in the first place though. It would have saved him a lot of trouble with Falconer (Simon Bass)! FOUR stars.
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