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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
this book is absolutely adorable, and a must read for any budding theater kid, nerd, or lgbt kid.
the dialog was cute, and the characters - of whom there are a large number - were all unique and interesting.
but my favorite part - apart from the sweet bi main character - was how the plot of the book itself reflected the events of romeo and juliet. it didn't click for me until they started doing the play itself, and i realized that the opening halloween party /was/ the capulet party. i think that can spark a lot of solid discussion with the kid(s) reading it, along with the message of love & acceptance.
the dialog was cute, and the characters - of whom there are a large number - were all unique and interesting.
but my favorite part - apart from the sweet bi main character - was how the plot of the book itself reflected the events of romeo and juliet. it didn't click for me until they started doing the play itself, and i realized that the opening halloween party /was/ the capulet party. i think that can spark a lot of solid discussion with the kid(s) reading it, along with the message of love & acceptance.
funny
lighthearted
File under: books I wish I could have read when I was twelve.
All the adults in this book made me want to scream until my throat went hoarse. I hate this “make all the adult characters stupid and more immature than the kid characters in an attempt to appeal to the kids reading this book” cheap trick that so many children’s and middle grade authors do. And then the book just abruptly cut off instead of having a proper ending! It felt like the author hit their minimum word count, went “okay, done!”, and stopped writing. Almost makes me wonder if the publisher accidently omitted the last few pages. Anyway, this was a waste of my time and middle grade readers deserve much better than this pandering annoyance of a story.
Gorgeous. I'd heard a lot of good things about this one and it lived up to the reputation. I am a Shakespeare nerd, yes, so that increased my enjoyment. It is rare to find a top-end of middle-grade/early YA that deals with romantic feelings, and rarer still to acknowledge those feelings are not always heterosexual. It's so nicely staged in all ways. Ideal for 11+.
This has been on my TBR for forever, and I'm so glad I finally read it. I really liked Mattie as a MC and the rest of the characters were great. Although I did have to keep reminding myself of how I acted in eighth grade whenever Lucy and Tessa were frustrating me haha.
Semi-Spoilery:
Overall, I wish we got a little more. I wanted to know why Willow had beef with Mattie and I wanted to delve deeper into those emotions. I also wish we had a bigger declaration at the end between Mattie and Gemma. It was still such a cute story though and I'll definitely be reading more from Barbara Dee.
Semi-Spoilery:
Overall, I wish we got a little more. I wanted to know why Willow had beef with Mattie and I wanted to delve deeper into those emotions. I also wish we had a bigger declaration at the end between Mattie and Gemma. It was still such a cute story though and I'll definitely be reading more from Barbara Dee.
This is an absolutely adorable book for middle graders, and a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare. Plus a bi main character! Yes! The romance is so cute and the drama wasn't over the top.
I was really excited when I first heard about the premise of this book, so I was a little nervous that it would disappoint. But it didn’t! It brought me back to my own middle school days of first crushes and drama (both theatrical and social).