What Parents Should Know
With a little luck, children may want to know more about the
Shakespearean plays mentioned here, as well as the period. Also
worth discussing is the ethical dilemma Widge is in: to risk
his life or betray his new friends.
Common Sense Media Review
What more could you want in an adventure: a plucky orphan
finally finding a home, some swashbuckling swordplay,
Elizabethan theater, a girl posing as a boy, and a dastardly
villain who is not what he seems? As a nice bonus, Blackwood's
book also illuminates an interesting problem: the stealing of
plays in Elizabethan England. With its fast pace, unusual
setting and even more unusual crime, this has found a ready
audience among the upper elementary and middle school set.
From the Book:
When the ghost of Hamlet's father appeared upon the
balcony and beckoned him, I gasped and shuddered but kept on
writing. When Hamlet thrust his sword through the draperies,
slaying Polonius, who was concealed there, I was lost. I no
longer noticed the press of the crowd, nor its unwashed smell
for I was no longer there among them, but in a castle in
Denmark.
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