Kip’s Illustrated Guide to:
Shakespearean Insults!
This was a project with multiple goals: I wanted to introduce people to the wonderful language of Shakespeare, I wanted to provide laughter and humorous illustration for those who were already familiar, and I wanted to use this project as a tool for kids; both in a scholastic sense, as well as a way to remind them that they are never alone. This book started out as an 8th-Grade project that was given an F. Years later, I saw the creativity contained within my old drawings and decided to revisit them. I hope to help show children that their inherent creativity is extremely valuable. Adults don’t always see it!
Scroll down the author’s note for more information.
Click here to see a gallery of selected artwork!
The author’s note is as follows:
Dear Reader,
During the start of the Pandemic in 2020, when so many kids were isolated and alone from school closures, and the world was looking like an increasingly uncertain and traumatizing place, I got the idea to share my 8th grade version of this book as a way to reassure kids that they are not powerless. I wanted to help them believe in themselves through an example in my life, the early version of this concept — a failed homework assignment — when someone did not believe in me. Since then, many adults have believed in me, and I was able to expand this book and bring it to you.
I want to tell you something I think a lot of adults forget to tell children.
First, a bit of background: I am currently 29. I have been through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, and I have also been a camp counselor and assistant teacher for over 8 summers now. So?
I have seen and helped a wide variety of kids in my life. The thing I think adults forget to tell children is this:
In many ways, it is rarely your fault.
When teachers or other adults tell you that you are doing something wrong, that you are failing, that you are not living up to their expectations, it is possible they are just doing a bad job at being a compassionate human being in that moment, and really, both of you are totally fine. They might just be communicating their needs poorly, and as a child, it’s impossible for you to see that.
Only recently having grown up (somewhat), now when I look back at my life, and when I help kids at camps or schools, do I really see that the grownups could have as easily gotten it as wrong as the child, but grownups put it all on the children. I see kids who have certainly been hurt or mistreated by the adults in their lives, and they don’t even know it. They are only able to blame themselves, because it is all they know. That is extremely sad to me.
This is not to say that you should not trust adults. Just make sure you keep in mind that... well... they can be wrong. Even me! You have a right to think critically about adults’ behavior—you do! I hope this helps you.
This book is a project I did for an English teacher I had a hard time with. After a long time not connecting in class, I finally started to enjoy our Shakespeare unit. But then I had an even longer time not connecting with the homework assignment. I could not come up with an idea for a project that the teacher approved of. Finally, I had the idea to create An Illustrated Guide to Shakespearean Insults, which I thought would be fun, and I was right!
It was very exciting to me, and I spent all this dang time drawing and researching these insults, only to turn it in to have my teacher say it didn’t conform to the project guidelines. She told me I had to change it or I would receive a zero—out of 100.
At my age, I can’t imagine being a middle or high school teacher of English, and, seeing that a student I have trouble connecting with is going out of his way to work hard on a project, deciding to give the assignment back with the threat of a zero just because it didn’t conform to the guidelines I had set up. Ridiculous! That is poor teaching to me. Putting your guidelines before a child’s imagination. I ended up imploring the teacher to reconsider in a very nicely and carefully written email, and that ended up doing the trick. It was late, but it did work out in the end.
I hope you like this project I did when I was 14... more than 10 years ago. If you don’t, I hope you can read this artist’s statement and remember that sometimes adults make bad decisions, and your impressions on that topic are valid, and your recognition of an injustice done to you is also valid.
I repeat: In many ways, it’s really rarely your fault. And often, there’s a way around. It might take a lot of drawing, feeling bad, and advocating for yourself—but do it! It is worth it.
Good luck out there! May your creativity never cease!
The world needs you.
Sincerely,
-Kip
Reviews for Kip’s Illustrated Guide to Shakespearean Insults:
“This little paperback, according to Minnesota’s legendary bookseller David Unowsky, could appeal both to children, who love Hathaway’s stick figure illustrations, and adults, who will be amused by The Bard’s epithets.” --Mary Ann Grossmann, St. Paul Pioneer Press Book Critic
"Just in time for holiday family gatherings, kids and families get the laughs we all need from an unusual source: William Shakespeare. In a creative take on old topics--almost 500 years old! --locally published author, stick-figure illustrator and professional improv comedian Kip Hathaway brings us Kip's Illustrated Guide to Shakespearean Insults. His drawings are witty and wacky and helpful in showing readers what the words Shakespeare has written are about: usually life's dramas we are addressing today in a climate of growing incivility and insults gone wild. This book helps tame them with wit, creativity and fun! Read it aloud around the holiday table, play charades with it, but it seems this winner from our own Grand Marais' Minnesota Children's Press is the holiday cheer we all need!"
-- Brian Larsen, reporter
"As a high school English teacher, I can definitely see myself using Kip's Illustrated Guide to Shakespearean Insults as a template for students to try their hand at illustrating their own selected insults before diving into the Bard's plays."
-- Nicole Kronzer, high school teacher
"Kip unites cartoons and text to create comic clarity that is especially appealing to middle schoolers who are being introduced (or trying to avoid being introduced) to Shakespeare. Kip's talent for delving into ideas to find both the funny and the meaningful is a skill I personally witness and delight in while performing with him in my improv troupe, Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Antic, empathetic, fun, funny and thought-provoking, Kip's Illustrated Guide to Shakespearean Insults will make you laugh and think while it impishly teaches you about 16th century world of Shakespeare."
-- Stevie Ray, professional comedian
"The pictures are really funny. I wish more books were like this because you can see there is a story going on between the people he draws." --Sabrina Duschek, grade 2
"I wish I'd had this book when I first started reading Shakespeare as a middle schooler. The language of the plays is so dense, it's hard at first to get to the ideas and the story--which are really really good once you get there. But to have pictures of Shakespearean insults is a great motivator to dive into the book and experience the story. And it's fun and funny!"
-- Sammie Garrity, grade 12