SAVING JULIET

What at first seems to be another you-don’t-really-want-to-be-a-star plot breaks out into an almost-historical, almost time-travel fantasy surrounding Romeo and Juliet. Mimi doesn’t want to be the scion of her acting family, propping up their fabled New York theater. She runs from her last performance as Juliet and finds herself in an odd version of 1594 Verona, accompanied by her insufferable pop-star leading man, Troy. Selfors uses the fantasy to illustrate the backstory to Romeo and Juliet, complete with feuding families and the filth of the times. Mimi decides to save Juliet from her fate, but her interference in Shakespeare’s plot causes unexpected events and plenty of real danger for both Mimi and Troy. Most of the characters from the original appear, allowing Selfors to introduce her audience to the play, much like Caroline Cooney did for Macbeth with Enter Three Witches (2007). Absorbing, exciting and useful for teachers, too. (Fiction. YA)