Ira's Shakespeare Dream

Review
By Classroom Bookshelf

In this fictionalized biography, readers witness the impact of race, discrimination, family, and country on Ira’s life choices. Floyd Cooper’s signature illustration style of oil washes and erasers creates an ethereal effect mirroring the central message of Ira’s steadfast pursuit of his dream. Glenda Armand’s text invites young readers to understand the social and cultural significance of Ira’s life through simple sentences coupled with intermittent Shakespearean lines from Hamlet, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice. Ira’s Shakespeare Dream provides classrooms a life story of struggle, grit, and ultimately success alongside an introduction to Shakespeare that will inspire students to consider their own dreams and the ways they can be true to themselves.