Today is the 444th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare. He was born on April 23, 1564. His work is world-renown and has been performed in probably thousands of different forms. My personal favorite is the popular movie Shakespeare in Love. Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Much Ado About Nothing are among his many notable plays.
As is to be expected, there are countless resources online if you want to learn more about Shakespeare or read his plays or sonnets. Here are a few you might want to check out:
Gertrude Chandler Warner was born on April 16, 1890. She is an especially dear author to me because it was one of her books that I recall being the first pleasure read that I deeply enjoyed. I was about 10 or 11 years old, I think, and I checked out Surprise Island (one of the Boxcar Children series) from my school's library. I remember wishing that I could frolic along with the children in that book while I enjoyed reading about their adventure. I re-read Surprise Island in 2007, just for the fun of it. While I could certainly see that it was written for children (and it was also apparent that the book was written in the 1940s, which was actually a delightful change of pace), it was a joy to go back in time a little bit.
Labels: Authors, Birthdays, Children's Fiction
