Recently the Mom Central did an interview with actress Mary Steenburgen about her role in Four Christmases with Reese Whitherspoon and Vince Vaugh. I just had to share her advice to budding actors with you.

Well….first of all…I talk to (young people) about reading and the importance of reading great literature. That they (should) watch a little less TV and movies and read. And the reason very specifically for that is that when you watch a movie or you watch TV, you are watching the fulfillment of someone else’s imagination.

When you read a book, you are casting the parts. You are making the costumes. You are designing the sets. You are acting. You are doing that all in your head because the pictures that you are seeing are the ones that the writer is creating with you. And so I think number one, actors have to be good readers. And the best actors I know have always loved literature.

Taking Mary’s advice, how about getting your children to read Shakespeare? The adult versions of the full plays are hard to read, even for some adults. Luckily there are Shakespeare for kids books on the market. The Shakespeare Can Be Fun! series for children in grades one to four (ages six to nine and above) are a good start.

Usborne has several wonderful children’s books based on Shakespeare’s plays. I just like paging through them for the beautiful illustrations. Any child interested in acting should have these books:

• Midsummer Night’s Dream for ages seven and up
• Stories from Shakespeare for ages 10 and up
• World of Shakespeare – about the man and his plays for ages 11 and up

All would make wonderful holiday or birthday presents and may inspire you and your family to take in a Shakespearean theater production, too.

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