King of the Shadows

Review by Mary Aluko

This is my review of KING OF SHADOWS. This is a wonderful book by Susan Cooper. My first reason is THE STORY! At the beginning I thought it was boring but then it started building up the suspense. Not only that, but it always gives you questions (in your head) such as: "What's going to happen? Who is that? Where are you?" and many more - these are the questions you really want to answer as you read.

The book is based in Shakespeare's time when he was alive. So I would say this book is for children that would like to be an actor when they grow up as well as for teenagers and upwards. However, if younger children love a challenge then this is a great book for you too.

When I first started reading it, I just wanted to know what happened at the end. Now that I know I know you would like to know what happens too... But I'm not telling! You have to read it first. I loved it, but what would you think?

The main characters in the story are Nat, who is a teenage boy who wants to become a famous actor working for famous companies; Arby, who is an American director who works at a boys company for acting and Shakespeare, a playwright who loves writing.
My favourite part was when Nat woke up from his ... and ended up at...! You'll have to read it to find out what those ... mean!

‘King of Shadows' - read it, it's GREAT!

ANOTHER YEAR 7 EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER:

Another Excellence in English Award winner emerged when I was marking Nadia Gebre-Yesus's book and read her excellent tribute article about Michael Jackson - a great example of writing to explain and inform! Well done, Nadia! See Mr L. Williams for your prize.