All Hamlet Kennedy wants is to be a normal eighth grader. But with parents like hers - Shakespearean scholars who actually dress in Elizabethan regalia . . . in public! - it's not that easy. As if they weren't strange enough, her genius seven-year-old sister will be attending her middle school, and is named the new math tutor. Then, when the Shakespeare Project is announced, Hamlet reveals herself to be an amazing actress. Even though she wants to be average, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she- like her family - is anything but ordinary.

In this book, we have hand-picked the most sophisticated, unanticipated, absorbing (if not at times crackpot!), original and musing book reviews of "The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet." Don't say we didn't warn you: these reviews are known to shock with their unconventionality or intimacy. Some may be startled by their biting sincerity; others may be spellbound by their unbridled flights of fantasy. Don't buy this book if: 1. You don't have nerves of steel. 2. You expect to get pregnant in the next five minutes. 3. You've heard it all.

The Renaissance Faire—a 50 year-long party, communal ritual, political challenge and cultural wellspring—receives its first sustained historical attention with Well Met. Beginning with the chaotic communal moment of its founding and early development in the 1960s through its incorporation as a major “family friendly” leisure site in the 2000s, Well Met tells the story of the thinkers, artists, clowns, mimes, and others performers who make the Faire. Well Met approaches the Faire from the perspective of labor, education, aesthetics, business, the opposition it faced, and the key figures involved. Drawing upon vibrant interview material and deep archival research, Rachel Lee Rubin reveals the way the faires established themselves as a pioneering and highly visible counter cultural referendum on how we live now—our family and sexual arrangements, our relationship to consumer goods, and our corporate entertainments. In order to understand the meaning of the faire to its devoted participants,both workers and visitors, Rubin has compiled a dazzling array of testimony, from extensive conversations with Faire founder Phyllis Patterson to interviews regarding the contemporary scene with performers, crafters, booth workers and “playtrons.” Well Met pays equal attention what came out of the faire—the transforming gifts bestowed by the faire’s innovations and experiments upon the broader American culture: the underground press of the 1960s and 1970s, experimentation with “ethnic” musical instruments and styles in popular music, the craft revival, and various forms of immersive theater are all connected back to their roots in the faire. Original, intrepid, and richly illustrated, Well Met puts the Renaissance Faire back at the historical center of the American counterculture.

Cassidy Barnett is not your average twelve- (almost thirteen!-) year -old. While most other girls her age are worries about school and clothes and boys, Cass has spent most of her life traveling the world with her travel TV-show-host parents. She gets to visit fabulous places and loves connecting with people via her popular blog. But when the producers of the show decide that they want to feature Cass on camera, all of that starts to change. Now she's got to think about what she says, how she looks, and what the world is saying about her. Because like it or not, it's LIGHTS, CAMERA, CASSIDY! In this first episode, the show's producers arrange for Cassidy to be shown around Valencia, Spain, by a local teen (and a cute one at that!). Things are going well - until Cass unwittingly catches a criminal in the act on her video blog, and she's thrust into the spotlight. To top it all off, her old friend Logan returns to the show. He's older now and . . . well, cuter. As things with the blog start to heat up, Cassidy finds that she doesn't know who is a friend, who is a crush, and who just wants her story for the tabloids!

Cassidy Barnett is not your average twelve- (almost thirteen!-) year -old. While most other girls her age are worries about school and clothes and boys, Cass has spent most of her life traveling the world with her travel TV-show-host parents. She gets to visit fabulous places and loves connecting with people via her popular blog. But when the producers of the show decide that they want to feature Cass on camera, all of that starts to change. Now she's got to think about what she says, how she looks, and what the world is saying about her. Because like it or not, it's LIGHTS, CAMERA, CASSIDY! In this third episode, Cassidy is thrilled when the time comes for her and Logan to start filming publicity spots for their parents' TV show in Costa Rica. But there's a damper on her sunshiny outlook when she realizes that Logan is less than thrilled at being in front of the camera. Even worse, she soon discovers that someone has hacked into her blog and is posting some pretty negative things--jeopardizing her whole role on the show. Can Cassidy enlist Logan's help and figure out what's going on--before it's lights out for Lights, Camera, Cassidy?

Cassidy Barnett is not your average twelve- (almost thirteen!-) year -old. While most other girls her age are worries about school and clothes and boys, Cass has spent most of her life traveling the world with her travel TV-show-host parents. She gets to visit fabulous places and loves connecting with people via her popular blog. But when the producers of the show decide that they want to feature Cass on camera, all of that starts to change. Now she's got to think about what she says, how she looks, and what the world is saying about her. Because like it or not, it's LIGHTS, CAMERA, CASSIDY! G'day, mates! In this fourth episode, Cassidy and the crew of When in Rome get a hearty dose of Australian hospitality when they head to Melbourne to film. But while Cass is starting to get used to her celebrity status, she's not sure she likes it when she realizes that most of the fans seem more interested in Logan than in her. At the same time, there seem to be a lot of technical glitches interfering with filming. What's going on? And can Cass get over her jealousy and help figure it out before it's too late?

Cassidy Barnett is not your average twelve- (almost thirteen!-) year -old. While most other girls her age are worries about school and clothes and boys, Cass has spent most of her life traveling the world with her travel TV-show-host parents. She gets to visit fabulous places and loves connecting with people via her popular blog. But when the producers of the show decide that they want to feature Cass on camera, all of that starts to change. Now she's got to think about what she says, how she looks, and what the world is saying about her. Because like it or not, it's LIGHTS, CAMERA, CASSIDY! In this second episode, Cassidy has a fabulous opportunity to be in an upcoming travelogue about the Greek Isles. For the show, she will be living on board a swank yacht and being hosted by the wealthy actor Costas Kouropolous and his adorable son, Nikos. But Cass soon starts to suspect that things aren't really as they seem aboard the Pandora. At the same time, she wonders what's going on with Logan - he hasn't been around for their nightly e-chats. Can she find out the truth about the Pandora? And can she get her relationship with Logan back on track - before it's too late?