Woelfle, Gretchen. All The World's A Stage

Woelfle, Gretchen.      All The World's A Stage        

Holiday House           2011   163p   16.95   978-0-8234-2281-4             

ms                               VG-BN 

 This novel of Elizabethan London is presented as a play in five acts.  This fascinating account of this era givesyoung readers a chance to experience life both as a poor orphan and a member of

the theater company with its myriad of tasks and opportunities.  The ╥reality╙of the time is enhanced by the pencil drawings that add to the sense of time and place.               

 Kit Buckles, newly orphaned and now apprenticed to a gang of pickpockets,

is sent to relieve theater patrons of their purses at the Theatre Playhouse. 

Caught in the act, he has to choose between prison and being an unpaid worker

for the Chamberlain╒s Men.  Kit chooses the latter and finds that life as a part

of this company agrees with him.  During the winter of 1598, the ongoing dispute

between the company and their landlord becomes critical.   After they are locked

out, the company makes plans to secretly dismantle the existing theater and

rebuild it again as the Globe on another site along the Thames.  Kit finds his

way in life during this tumultuous period.  He tries his hand at many chores and

discovers friends and companions that suit him from the company╒s apple girl to

Will Shakespeare himself.

 This fascinating account of this era gives young readers a chance to experience

life both as a poor orphan and as a member of the theater company with its

myriad of tasks and opportunities.  The ╥reality╙ of the time is enhanced by the

pencil drawings that add greatly to the sense of time and place.  The book ends

with an author╒s note, a glossary, and a bibliography.  It is sure to lead to

further reading on the topic and, perhaps, a nudge towards the works of

Shakespeare himself.       Ogintz, Susan