Reader's Theatre is a bit of a lost art. From the late 1970's through the mid-1980's I participated in a number of reader's Theatre programs - usually through church groups but also in my university theatre program. It's quite likely that some of those scripts I performed in were written by Aaron Shepard.

This current collection of short reader's theatre scripts is a revised reprint of a collection printed in 1993 and revised in 2005. They've been revised again for fit the e-device reader.

The scripts are geared for a young audience - late elementary school/early middle school, most likely and it is easy to see how these short plays, intended to be read aloud and not necessarily performed, might fit nicely into a school English or speech class.

Only one moment in a script struck me as not particularly 'pc.' In the final script, <em>Westwoods</em>, a Narrator (there are almost always more than one narrator per script) says: "The Princess <em>was</em> beautiful, thought John, only very, very fat. Her father was still fatter." And just a few lines later King John recites a poem:
<blockquote>You're fatter than butter, you'd melt by the fire.
You're very much fatter than I could desire.
When I see you, my courage commences to ooze.
I've come to propose, but I hope you'll refuse.</blockquote>
Funny, but every overweight child in the class will cringe and there will be snickering all around. I don't see this particular script getting much attention in today's educational system that is extremely sensitive to issues such as this.

The scripts included in this book are:

<em>Millions of Cats</em> - Wanda Gag
<em>Harriet</em> - Florence Parry Heide
<em>The Legend of Lighting Larry</em> - Aaron Shepard
<em>Mr. Bim's Bamboo</em> - Carol Farly
<em>Three Sideways Stores From Wayside School</em> - Louis Sachar
<em>The Jade Stone</em> - Caryn Yacowitz
<em>Talk</em> - Harold Coudrlander
<em>The Bean Boy</em> - Monice Shannon
<em>How Tom Beat Captain Najork</em> - Russell Hoban
<em>Tapiwa's Uncle</em> - Nancy Farmer
<em>The Kid From the Commercial</em> - Stephen Manes
<em>The Fools of Chelm</em> - Steve Sanfield
<em>Mr. Twit's Revenge</em> - Roald Dahl
<em>Mouse Woman and the Snails</em> - Christie Harris
<em>Westwoods</em> - Eleanor Farjeon

All the scripts were adapted for reader's theatre by Aaron Shepard and they do tend to sound the same when you read them straight through, as I did. My favorites were <em>Millions of Cats</em>, <em>Three Sideways Stories from Wayside School</em>, <em>The Jade Stone</em>, and <em>The Bean Boy</em>.

Looking for a good book? Reader's Theatre is a great opportunity to involve a number of 'performers' without having to spend any rehearsal time and Aaron Shepard's <em>Stories on Stage</em> is a collection of fifteen Reader's Theatre scripts for young readers and is a wonderful introduction to the format.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.