Booktalk Theme: Modernizing Shakespeare

The theme I have chosen for my booktalks is Shakespeare retellings.  As an English teacher, I've done my share of teaching Shakespeare.  Over the years. I've taught Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. Of course, part of the challenge with any of these texts is the language, as well as generating student interest.  I felt that some modern retellings of these plays might be a great way to go.  Students could read the original Shakespeare text as a common reading and then try a retelling either in literature circles or individually.  Comparing and contrasting the original and the update would then be an excellent analytical activity.  I have taken a similar approach to teaching The Great Gatsby in the past by pairing it with Gordon Korman's Jake, Reinvented, and it worked well, so I thought, why not try it with Shakespeare?