Meet Me at the Globe : A Novel for Young People [Paperback]

Dalma Takacs (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Fifteen year old Aggie has a special bond with her father, an English professor, who shares with her the wonders of Shakespeare's plays. Her world changes suddenly when her father dies of a heart attack. Her mother remarries--too quickly--and takes Aggie to live in her new husband's home. Bitter and confused, Aggie tries to find friends in her new school. She feels lucky to be accepted by the most popular group but soon discovers that to be part of the group means playing cruel jokes on people, and worse. She feels guilty but cannot give up her popularity. When she is alone, she buries herself in her father's copy of Shakespeare's plays, hoping to find her father's voice in Shakespeare's words. On a school trip to England, her father's favorite haunt, Aggie is transported to Shakespeare's time and meets Catherine, the daughter of a Stratford glove maker. Together the girls face the dangers and wonders of England in the year 1605. The dangers include being accused of witchcraft and complicity in the Gunpowder Plot; the wonders take them to Shakespeare's theatre and a discovery that helps Aggie start a new life.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10-Aggie shares a special bond with her father, a Shakespearean scholar. Every time he tells her, "Meet me at the globe," she knows they are in for a long talk, often about the Bard. Reeling with shock and anger when she learns that her parents are getting divorced, the 15-year-old faces a worse trauma when her father dies of a massive heart attack the very next day. One month later, her mother remarries. Wanting desperately to be a part of the "in crowd" in her new school, she participates in the group's cruel antics and cheats on an exam in order to qualify for a school trip to London. While visiting the Globe Theatre, she is transported back to Shakespeare's time, where she must succumb to the rigors, customs, and strict beliefs of the society of Stratford. After some rather harrowing adventures, she learns to appreciate the freedom of her 21st-century lifestyle and returns home completely changed by her experiences. So, of course, "All's well that ends well." The story is predictable and contrived. There is little believable character development; Aggie's friends are particularly stereotypical kids who pride themselves on disobeying the rules in order to look cool. Dialogue is often stilted, and the text contains some awkward phrasing. The time-travel portion of the novel is the strongest and most interesting part of the book, but the whole adventure seems to be nothing more than an excuse for giving information about Shakespeare's life and times. Gary Blackwood's Shakespeare's Scribe (Dutton, 2000) does a better job of revealing the intricacies of the era through an interesting plot line and believable characters.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

In the course of her career in education, Dalma Takács has been librarian, English teacher, and college professor. She is the author of numerous classroom plays, which she has used to make literature come alive for her students. She is Professor Emerita and Notre Dame College of Ohio.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (January 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595211550
• ISBN-13: 978-0595211555
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,246,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Interesting (and Fun) to visit Shakespeare's England, January 23, 2003

By 

Frances Plude (Cleveland OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Me at the Globe : A Novel for Young People (Paperback)

Even as an adult, when I started to read this novel I couldn't stop! There's authenticity here and young readers will especially identify with the main character's sense of displacement (at the loss of her father, at her pain at her mother's quick re-marriage) and her sense of adventure when she is transported back to the England of Shakespeare.

After reading Shakespeare's plays (and that includes almost everyone in school), it's fun to experience the hurly-burly of that time. The book should help students 'feel' what Shakespeare was like; the recent movie "Shakespeare in Love" did the same thing.

The road back to the present is a little rocky in the book;
perhaps that is because I didn't want to leave the Shakespeare world this author had created!