The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet* by Erin Dionne

Title: The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet 
Author: Erin Dionne 

Publisher: Dial  
Release Date: January 7, 2010

Received from:1 ARC Tours

To die or not to die of utter mortification . . .


Hamlet Kennedy just wants to be your average, happy, vanilla eighth grader. But with Shakespearean scholar parents who dress in Elizabethan regalia and generally go about in public as if it were the sixteenth century, that’s not terribly easy. It gets worse when they decide that Hamlet’s genius seven year-old sister will attend middle school with her— and even worse when the Shakespeare project is announced and her sister is named the new math tutor. By the time an in-class recitation reveals that our heroine is an extraordinary Shakespearean actress, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she—like her family—is anything but average.

This was a really cute book by a newer author, her other book, a YA book "Models don't eat chocolate cookies" has already come out so check that out while you are waiting for this!

This is a middle grade book but it still kept me interested. While some of the "problems" seemed juvenile, but once I thought about it from a a 13 year old's view I really enjoyed it. Hamlet is really cute and the horrors of having a genius for a little sister, and crazy parents was painted well. The character interactions were really good, as was the plot and I cannot wait to see more from Erin and Hamlet!

The only problem I had was that I felt the the ending could have been a little better it was kind of drawn out, and I just kept waiting for the conclusion. But overall a good book.

4/5