Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach
Audience: 9 and up
Rating: A-
Synopsis:
What’s worse than being the new girl in sixth grade? Being the new girl who has the same name as a classmate’s dog. Hero Netherfield has just moved to Maryland and is not enjoying the start of the school year. Rejected by her classmates, Hero forms a friendship with mysterious Mrs. Roth who lives next door and tells Hero a fantastic story about Shakespeare, a diamond, and secret identities. This fantastic story, however, centers on the very house that Hero just moved into!
Chatter:
(Spoiler Alerts! ) Poor Hero! It’s awful being new at a school and worse when your older sister is beautiful and immediately popular! Hero is a really great character because of the honest way she deals with her jealousy and her stubbornness. After a whole day of being picked on at school, she goes out of her way to stop Ben and Danny from picking on Aaron.
Danny’s an interesting character too. He’s got the same protective instincts as Hero – as evidenced by his teacher “hitting” incident and how he sticks up for Hero. He’s popular like Beatrice, but unlike her, he doesn’t seem to work at it.
The bullying in the book is also really realistic. Hero becomes the victim after the accidental joke about her name, but then bullying escalates over something that would normally be seen as positive. How dare the outcast girl hang out with a popular eight grader?! Instead of escalating her social status, Hero is further mocked for daring to have a friend.
Mrs. Rivnor, on the other hand is a horrible principal! She lectures and yells at Hero, when she’s the victim. Mrs. Rivnor’s not listening to Hero even as she’s lecturing Hero for not coming to the administration and saying that they would have listened.
The Shakespeare plot is interesting too… but I thought the characters in this book were much more intriguing. What about you?
Questions:
Was Arthur right to fake the diamond’s theft?
Do you think Edward de Vere could be the real Shakespeare?
Do you agree with Hero, “ There were few things worse than having a beautiful, popular sister? It changed the way you looked at the world. And the way the world looked at you” (51)?
Why do you think Danny likes Hero?
What do you think of Danny’s decision to mail the diamond to his mother?
Keep reading!
-Paige
Buy Shakespeare’s Secret from Amazon
BTA Says:
What do you think of Danny sending the diamond to his mother?
I think that it was a good and bad idea. I think it was a good idea because his mother was very poor, and had no job. She wanted to become an actress, so Danny thought by sending the diamond she could get clothes and get all the supplies she needed because the diamond was worth over one million dollars. But I think it was a bad idea for Danny to send the diamond to his mother because the police were going to arrest who ever had/stole the diamond. To add on, most states had known about the Murphy diamond and if she traded the diamond for money and the person who took the diamond could know she had the diamond and report her. Lastly, it was a bad idea because it is Mrs. Roth’s diamond not his. He didn’t get permission from Mrs. Roth. To conclude I think it was a good and bad idea.