Hamlet, by John Marsden

Murder! Revenge! Lust! Remorse! Betrayal! Sounds like a great young adult novel, right? Shakespeare's enduring story about Hamlet's struggle to revenge the death of his father, who was killed by his own uncle (now king) Claudius, has been around now for over 800 years. But while our language has changed a lot over those years, Shakespeare's words have not - leaving readers to read and re-read his plays to better understand them. How frustrating! Have you ever wished that someone would just get around to rewriting Hamlet using the words we use today?

The wait is over! Hamlet, by John Marsden, IS set in modern times. It has much of the basic plot of the original story, and the characters are named the same, only now it's almost - - dare I say it - - FUN to read! School Library Journal called this "a wonderful treatment of the play: engaging, gripping, dark and lovely."