A Shorter Hamlet

One of the gifts of Christmas 2014 was a copy of Hamlet from Macmillan's series entitled A Shorter Shakespeare.  (Thanks Tracey!)  As the series is advertised, "All the world's in Shakespeare...were there but time enough to explore it."  The work in question provides an extreme abridgment of Hamlet.  The play is retold as a story, with narrative combined with excerpts of the actual Shakespearean text.  As one might expect, though, the entire "To be or not to be" soliloquy is included.  Along with the text are full-color illustrations of various scenes.  The entire play comprises 48 pages, and surprisingly the work in its brevity still does justice to the story.  It is a great little introduction to the play for a novice and a great addition to a veteran's ever-growing Hamlet collection.