It’s no wonder that a girl with an unusual name like Hamlet would have a life as insane as a Shakespearean tragedy. Hamlet just wants to be normal, to blend in with the other eighth grade students.
Enter her Freaky Family.
Hamlet’s seven-year-old sister Desdemona has an amazing IQ of 210! While Hamlet struggles with algebra, her genius baby sister studies Chinese history, Greek drama and calculus in home school. Then Hamlet’s parents decide to enroll her younger sister in middle school with her! Desdemona is so small her feet don’t touch the floor when she sits at her desk. But she is so smart the popular girls in school pretend to be Desdemona’s friend just so she can help them with their homework.
Hamlet’s eccentric parents are walking, talking characters from one of Shakespeare’s plays – totally humiliating for a girl who never wants to be noticed. Her parents never notice anything Hamlet does anyway. They pay more attention to their genius child, Desdemona.
Hamlet’s family isn’t her only problem. Someone is leaving origami pigs (because her name is Ham-let) in her locker. Is it a secret admirer, or a stalker? Then her English teacher discovers Hamlet has a “natural” acting talent and selects her to play Puck in the school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hamlet doesn’t know which is worse, performing on stage in front of the school, or in front of her Shakespeare loving parents. Her life is becoming a midsummer nightmare!
Bravo to Erin Dionne, author of the equally hilarious young adult novel
Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies (see link below). Dionne understands the tragedies of teenagers - from dealing with bullies to struggling with math to first crushes to just trying to fit in. Her book is a hit from Act I to the final curtain.
If you’re looking for more great young adult novels, try
Al Capone Does My Shirts or
How to Eat Fried Worms (click on links below).