The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet

Gr 5-8 Eighth-grader Hamlet Kennedy, so named by her slightly obsessed Shakespearean-scholar parents, works hard to be normal and fit in at school. This becomes even more difficult when her genius seven-year-old sister begins attending her middle school. Hamlet offers her guidance and is stung not only when her advice is rejected, but also when Desdemona befriends two mean girls who have picked on Hamlet for years. On top of everything else, her teachers announce a special Shakespeare unit, and Hamlet is assigned the starring role in "A Midsummer's Night's Dream". Suddenly, blending into the crowd is no longer an option and she must find the courage to embrace her talent as a Shakespearean performer and her family's quirkiness. Hamlet's narration is charming, and readers will empathize entirely with her embarrassment at both her clueless parents and her wavering between trying to protect her younger sister and allowing her to find out the hard way how to pick friends. Add a bit of romantic intrigue involving mysterious origami pigs and you have an excellent choice for middle school readers."Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.