“And yet, by the very fangs/ of malice I swear, I am not that I play.”
TWELFTH NIGHT, William Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 5
I was all set to wholeheartedly adore this new mystery adventure starring a group of theatre kids, which cleverly uses clues based on TWELFTH NIGHT (my favorite Shakespeare comedy) and champions LGBTQ+ rights. And I did really, really, really like it. I’m not ultimately as rapturous as I hoped I’d be, but I still recommend it.
This is basically an LGBTQ+ version of Varian Johnson’s brilliant THE PARKER INHERITANCE: a group of middle schoolers in the present day work against the clock to find a hidden treasure. Which you know, if you’ve read that novel and read my opinion of it, could only be another argument in TWELFTH’s favor. But it also meant that this book had a high standard to meet.
THE STORY
Maren, a shy middle grader who has always lived in her talented, outgoing older sister’s shadow, can’t believe that her parents have dumped her off at the same theatre camp where her sister was a shining star for so many years. Theatre was her sister’s thing – until she became dangerously depressed and became the focal point of their family once again. Stung and resentful, Maren arrives at camp ready to grit her teeth through the summer; then she accidentally finds herself making friends with Theo, a nonbinary camper who endures bullying for using they/them pronouns. (Which, really? At a sleepover theatre camp in the year 2022? I’m dubious, but okay. The camp must be in Florida.) A teacher disappears, there’s rumors of the camp founder’s ghost appearing, and suddenly Maren keeps finding clues hidden for her – pieces of text from the summer production of Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT. Supposedly the clues may lead to a valuable diamond ring hidden somewhere on campus, the sale of which could save the struggling camp before the owners must sell out to a Walmart-like corporation. But Maren and her friends must juggle their responsibilities to the play with solving the puzzle first…because evil forces are hunting for the treasure, too.
[FROM HERE THERE BE VERY MILD SPOILERS.]
Got all that? Good. Because meanwhile in the novel, we also get the detailed backstory of the camp’s founder and namesake, Charlotte/Charlie Goodman, whom we learn was a victim of genderqueer oppression during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Charlie’s story is told in flashbacks intercut with scenes in the present. In the end, we discover that the clues and mystery puzzle are intricately linked with Charlie’s life.
THE BABBLE
Did that sound like a lot? It is. This novel juggles so much – mostly, but not one hundred percent, successfully. It’s a fun and frequently touching ride that only occasionally cracks under the strain of having to be a family drama AND an important piece of historical fiction AND, oh that’s right, a beat-the-clock puzzle mystery with an action climax. For a novel that champions celebrating one’s identity, it sometimes has trouble remembering or even knowing what its own identity is. But maybe that’s the point – this book is quirky and individual and isn’t one thing or another, but rather falls on a spectrum of middle grade genres. And I kinda love it for that.
Which parts of book worked the most for me? The family stuff. More and more books for young people have begun to tackle mental illness head-on, and TWELFTH does so in a way that I haven’t seen yet. I’ll be the first to admit I was extra invested because the novel explores depression through the lens of the theatre world, a world with which I’m familiar (and which is rarely explored in middle grade). But so many novels in which younger children watch their idealized older siblings fall into a depressive episode lean on a tragic accident to trigger it – coming home from war, losing a friend, a horrible breakup, etc. From Maren’s point of view, her bright and brilliant older sister simply left home to be a star in New York, then one day came back home crushed. She shut Maren out, and didn’t act like her sister anymore. Maren is still a child and can’t understand why. Watching Maren process the impact her sister’s mental health issues have had on her, and on her relationship with her sister and her parents, through her writing exercises throughout the book brought tears to my eyes more than once.
The characterizations and dynamics are vivid, the use of TWELFTH NIGHT lines is quite clever, the mystery resolution is fun…so why doesn’t this get a full 5 stars for me? Because TWELFTH falls into the trap that so many middle grade and YA novels seem to lately, trying to shove in one or two or five extra social issues – or, in this case, extra characters who relate to/spell out the central theme of LGBTQ+ oppression. I could have dealt with one fewer character reduced to a platform to drive home Key’s important message.
But once again I am reminded that I’m not the intended audience for this book (although I doubt middle grade readers will get as much squealy delight from the TWELFTH NIGHT clues). In theory, children ages 8-12 are the intended audience. I can’t speak to their experience, but I can imagine a scenario where a child that age who is just beginning to grapple with their own gender and sexual identity might find the range of possibilities explored here welcoming and inclusive and nurturing, rather than overstuffed and slightly unfocused.
Anyway, this wonderful new novel is fun and meaningful and well worth a read. And if nothing else, why should science and math whizzes have all the fun solving mysteries? We artsy types can have adventures, too!
RATING
**** OUT OF *****
RANDOM BABBLE
- I’d say the beautiful, movingly rendering historical narrative sections edge this book toward the more mature end of middle grade, but as always that depends on the reader.
- Did I mention the use of TWELFTH NIGHT is clever? Key’s selections made me think about certain lines in new ways – and not to be a snob but that is a difficult thing for me to achieve at this point with TWELFTH NIGHT.
- I understand the desire to represent a wider swath of the LGBTQ+ spectrum, I really do, I just…I wish we could have focused on just Theo, and parallels between Charlie’s struggles for acceptance and Theo’s struggles in modern day. It would have been enough, I promise.
- Those playwriting class sequences. Amazeballs.
- Will this book inspire kids to be less terrified of Shakespeare? Please? I hope so!
- Action theatre kids, to the rescue! I love it.
Bookshelves & Babble 