Wicked Will: A Mystery of Young William Shakespeare

by Bailey MacDonald

Overview

THE SHAPE WAS A MAN.

WILL GRASPED HIS LEFT ARM AND

TRIED TO HAUL HIM UP ONTO THE RIVERBANK.

THE BALD HEAD, THROWN BACK, TRAILED GRAY,

WISPY STRAGGLES OF HAIR.

THE DEAD MOUTH HUNG OPEN,

A BLACK GAP IN THE PALE BLUR OF FACE,

AND THE EYES SEEMED TO BE OPEN TOO.

EVEN IN THE DARKNESS I KNEW THAT TERRIBLE FACE,

FOR I HAD SEEN IT EARLIER THAT DAY

AS IT WRITHED IN ANGER.

IT WAS THE FACE OF OLD FARMER SPEIGHT,

AND HE WAS DEAD.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416987246
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	06/23/2009
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	201 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Bailey MacDonald is a professional actress and playwright who lives near Atlanta, Georgia. When she is not writing, she performs under a different name with a theater group in that city. Bailey has always loved theater, and when she began to write her first historical mystery, it was a natural choice to select Stratford-on-Avon, the home of the great William Shakespeare, as the setting for a tale of trickery, murder, and detective work.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5–7—Young Viola is masquerading as a boy so that she can travel with impunity with her Uncle Matthew's strolling players. When the troupe arrives in Stratford, 11-year-old Will Shakespeare drives them to distraction with his incessant questions. He promises to keep Viola's identity secret, however, and, when Matthew is falsely accused of murder, Will devises numerous plans—all of which fail—to try to prove the man's innocence. The tale concludes with a dramatic finish—dead bodies all around—in the best tradition of Shakespearean tragedy. Each of the brief 21 chapters begins with the "nut" of a Shakespearean quote, and some readers might recognize bits of dialogue from various plays. The chapters themselves logically reveal the twists and turns of the plot in concise, readable prose. The realistic details put flesh on the bones of not only the primary characters, but also of the secondary personages as well. The joy here, of course, is in seeing the boy Will through the eyes of Viola, a protagonist who views him not with wonder but with disdain. She does admit to his talents, however: his cleverness, his love of intrigue, and his poetic prowess. MacDonald's debut novel is sure to entice readers, both as a story in its own right and as a prompt to explore the life and career of the most famous writer in the English language.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI

School Library Journal

Some nearly threadbare tropes hold together this fast-paced mystery for middle schoolers, only fraying completely at the end. Will Shakespeare at 12 is irrepressible, full of words and perhaps a little ADHD. His foil is Tom, a member of a group of players, except that Tom is really Viola, living in disguise with her uncle's troupe as her parents are in hiding for helping a Catholic priest escape the Crown. Tom/Viola's uncle and his players come to Stratford-on-Avon, where he is almost immediately accused of murder when a local curmudgeon is bludgeoned to death with the uncle's walking stick. Will, with the unwilling assistance of Tom/Viola, seeks to solve the crime, full of words and scheming and hijinks. The townsfolk spout lines that ring suspiciously familiar, a melodramatic plot twist involving the twin sons of the local curmudgeon ends in a drowning and suicide (offstage) and everyone seems to figure out that Tom is really Viola. Lively and quick, it may offer some small amusement to readers not quite ready for King of Shadows. (Historical fiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews

"Bringful of cleverness...MacDonald entertains, excites, and enlightens alike." -Tom Dietz, author of Windmaster's Bane

From the Publisher