Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Saving Hamlet
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://muchadoaboutmolly.tumblr.com/
CITY: Portland
STATE: ME
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2016/11/13/for-something-novelist-hamlet-was-muse/FXl6hpj3YssWkTWKJy5HmM/story.html * http://hellogiggles.com/author/molly-booth/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1990.
EDUCATION:Attended Bunker Hill Community College; Marlboro College, undergraduate degree; University of Massachusetts Boston, M.A. candidate.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, director, educator, and public speaker. All the World’s a Stage Players, Chelmsford, MA, former director; speaks and teaches workshops at schools, colleges, bookstores, book fairs, and libraries.
WRITINGS
Contributor to Web sites, including McSweeneys Internet Tendencies, HelloGiggles, the Tempest, and the Mary Sue.
SIDELIGHTS
Molly Booth is the author of Shakespeare-inspired young adult (YA) novels. Her debut novel, Saving Hamlet, revolves around Emma Allen, a sophomore in high school, who finds herself overwhelmed when she is suddenly promoted to be stage manager of her high school’s production of Hamlet. Emma, however, encounters even more stress when she falls through a stage trapdoor into Elizabethan London around 1601. Soon she is going back and forth in time trying to save two productions of William Shakespeare’s play.
“When I was in high school, I threw myself into theater,” Booth told Boston Globe Online contributor Ethan Gilsdorf. When she was just seventeen years old, Booth was the stage manager for a production of the The Wizard of Oz, which featured a cast of approximately seventy people. I “was in charge of all these people, in charge of flying monkeys and a tornado,” Booth told Gilsdorf. It was not until she was in college that Booth became enamored with Shakespeare’s works. Saving Hamlet grew out of her thesis project.
In Saving Hamlet Emma, who narrates the novel, is very excited to start her sophomore year. She has a striking new haircut that is bound to gain attention, and she is looking forward to working as the assistant stage manager for the drama club’s production of Hamlet. However, she has little experience to help her along when she is suddenly promoted to stage manager. Emma is also upset because her best friend, Lulu, is no longer talking to her after losing the lead in the play. To make matters worse, Josh, the cute student playing Hamlet, is a terrible actor.
Then one night after rehearsals Emma stays behind to consider what she can do about the various crises in her life. Distracted, Emma ends up falling through the stage trapdoor into the basement of the famous Globe Theater in London, where Shakespeare’s plays were first produced. Because of her haircut, everyone thinks she is a boy, including William Shakespeare. As a result, Emma becomes an assistant in the original production of Hamlet and soon is engaged in a mutual infatuation with a handsome actor named Alex. Before long, Emma is leading a double life, traveling back and forth in time, facing crises in both worlds and romantic involvements as well.
“As enlightening as it is enjoyable, this whimsical novel deserves applause of its own,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Blake Norby remarked: “This is a wonderfully quirky tale that combines time travel, theater, and humor to create a subtle coming-of-age story.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, September 19, 2016, review of Saving Hamlet, p. 70; December 2, 2016, review of Saving Hamlet, p. 111.
School Library Journal, October, 2016, Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, review of Saving Hamlet, p. 103.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2016, Blake Norby, review of Saving Hamlet, p. 68.
ONLINE
Boston Globe Online, https://www.bostonglobe.com/ (November 14, 2016), Ethan Gilsdorf, “For 20-Something Young Adult Novelist, Hamlet Was the Muse.”
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (July 26, 2016), review of Saving Hamlet.
About
Hi there!!
I’m Molly, and I write books. My debut novel, Saving Hamlet, is being published by Disney Hyperion, and will be available 11/1/16! It’s about a teenage stage manager who time travels back to the original production of Hamlet at Shakespeare’s playhouse, while also trying to pull together her high school’s production.
My second book, also coming from Disney Hyperion, is called Nothing Happened – a modern, YA retelling of Much Ado About Nothing set at summer camp. It’s probably the swooniest, dorkiest thing I’ve ever written. Look for that spring 2018!
My agent is Alex Slater at Trident Media Group. He’s really cool.
My editor is Kieran Scott at Disney Hyperion. She’s awesome and also write books! You’ve probably read some of them. You should probably read more.
Thanks for checking me out! Leave me a “hello” or a question in my ask me! Or send me funny/fascinating Shakespeare stuff – that’s kind of my favorite.
Love,
Molly :)
p.s. my official website is www.mollybooth.com
p.p.s. my official contact email is molly@mollybooth.com
Molly Booth is the author of Shakespeare-inspired Young Adult novels SAVING HAMLET (2016) and NOTHING HAPPENED (spring 2018), both published by Disney Hyperion. Her books use Shakespeare to tell stories that she hopes will empower young people. She also directs the All the World’s a Stage Players, a Shakespearean theatre group for homeschooling middle and high school students. Currently, she’s an MA candidate at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she studies literature/writing education and (you guessed it) Shakespeare. She serves as a judge for the English-Speaking Union’s National High School Shakespeare Competition. Her writing can be found on McSweeneys.net, HelloGiggles.com, TheTempest.co, and regularly on TheMarySue.com. Molly speaks and teaches workshops at schools, colleges, bookstores, book fairs, and libraries. She lives in the Boston area with Harriet the queen cat, and her loaf-of-bread-shaped dog, Suzie.
For 20-something young adult novelist, Hamlet was the muse
E-Mail
Share via e-mail
To
Add a message
Your e-mail
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
1 Comment
Print
Molly Booth (pictured at Marblehead’s Little Theatre) went from college papers to the novel “Saving Hamlet.”
John Blanding/Globe Staff
Molly Booth (pictured at Marblehead’s Little Theatre) went from college papers to the novel “Saving Hamlet.”
By Ethan Gilsdorf Globe Correspondent November 14, 2016
In 2013, Booth traveled to London to see the reconstructed Globe Theatre.
Paul Nelsen
In 2013, Booth traveled to London to see the reconstructed Globe Theatre.
MARBLEHEAD — It’s rare indeed that a recent college grad can spin a liberal arts degree, a talent for writing, and a passion for Shakespeare into a bona fide book deal.
Yet that’s exactly what Molly Booth has done. This month, Booth’s 2014 college thesis project became the young adult novel “Saving Hamlet,” published by Hyperion/Disney. And she’s accomplished this feat at 26, younger than Hamlet himself, and with far fewer slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
“My Hamlet obsession never really stopped,” Booth said in a bubbly voice punctuated with laughter. Seated at Atomic Coffee Roasters, a favorite cafe in her Marblehead home base, Booth showed a visitor a college diary where she scribbled, “I stayed up till 2 a.m. working on my Hamlet paper.”
The novel is told from the perspective of Emma Allen, a sophomore assistant stage manager of her high school’s drama club production of “Hamlet.” Emma’s world becomes jumbled when she falls through a mysterious stage trapdoor and into Elizabethan London, circa 1601 — specifically, into the cellar of the original Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare himself is rehearsing the very first performance of his famous play. She has to bail out both troubled productions. (Upon first glimpse of Shakespeare, Emma quips, “I thought he was going to be taller.”)
Get The Weekender in your inbox:
The Globe's top picks for what to see and do each weekend, in Boston and beyond.
Both shocked and thrilled by the reality of her accomplishment, Booth recently celebrated her debut at the Peabody Barnes & Noble. She’ll be at the Miami Book Fair Nov. 17-20, and participate in a YA authors panel with Jen Malone (“Wanderlost”) and Jaye Robin Brown (“Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit”) at Brookline Booksmith on Dec. 2.
“Saving Hamlet” is both a contemporary teen drama and a time-travel fantasy. With her protagonist shuttling between her 21st-century high school and 17th-century England, Booth peppered her story with both contemporary text messages and Elizabethan lines of dialogue. Lacking any “solid, super-scientific reason” for the wormhole, Booth had to create “tensions and reasons for her to go back and forth in time,” she said.
Booth’s own path to the Bard began in a circuitous fashion. Her parents let their homeschooled kids pursue their own interests. When Booth gave up the dream of dancing for the Boston Ballet, she began acting and working backstage at local community theaters. “When I was in high school, I threw myself into theater,” Booth said. On a brief tour of formative hometown haunts, including the park where she and a high school friend would sit overlooking the harbor and hash out their creative projects, she pointed out the Marblehead Little Theatre. “I lived in there,” she said.
Booth could be an understudy for Emma; both are plucky, and share a pixie haircut. And she had inspiration for the moment when Emma is suddenly promoted to stage manager in “Saving Hamlet,” having stage-managed a 70-plus-person cast production of “The Wizard of Oz” herself while still a teenager. “Suddenly I was 17,” she said, “in charge of all these people, in charge of flying monkeys and a tornado.”
Hamlet mania didn’t begin until she entered Bunker Hill Community College. Professor Luke Salisbury’s course “Sophocles & Shakespeare” introduced her to Shakespeare’s plays with “such joy and excitement,” as Booth writes in her book’s acknowledgments. She had never connected to a text like that before. “It exploded in my brain.”
A paperback copy of “Hamlet” belonging to Booth as well as her college thesis that led to her novel.
John Blanding/Globe Staff
A paperback copy of “Hamlet” belonging to Booth as well as her college thesis that led to her novel.
Shakespeare’s Elizabethan diction and grammar “makes all of us feel that English is our second language,” joked Salisbury, who remembers Booth as “really bright” and a “very, very good writer.” But “if you can jump over the language and get into what’s going on, the emotions, the characters,” Shakespeare’s world comes alive.” Via “Saving Hamlet,” he said, “I think Molly’s doing that.”
After two years at Bunker Hill, Booth transferred to the tiny, 250-student Marlboro College, in southeastern Vermont, where she began writing fiction more seriously. The kernel for “Saving Hamlet” began to grow.
Brian Mooney, one of Booth’s fiction instructors at Marlboro at the time, said that Booth immediately had a marketable book concept, “more than anyone else I’ve worked with.” He and other Marlboro professors coached Booth to expand her story into a full-length novel. “She knows YA literature very well and is smart enough and skilled enough to make a big contribution to the genre,” he said.
Booth finished her first draft in the winter of 2013, her junior year. She secured a grant to travel that spring to see Shakespeare’s Globe in London, the reconstructed timber and thatched reed theater on the south bank of the River Thames.
“I have never felt anything like stepping into that space,” Booth said. “I grew up reading every fantasy book in the world and you always want to believe there’s some magic in the world. This was it for me.” The trip was instrumental in helping her nail the Elizabethan period’s historical details.
Soon after graduation, Booth focused on submitting “Saving Hamlet” to agents. When she sent her future agent her query letter, “he got back to me in 20 minutes, asking for the whole manuscript,” she said. “I nearly dropped my computer.” She landed a two-book deal; her second novel, “Nothing Happened,” a YA retelling of “Much Ado About Nothing” in which all the characters are teen summer camp counselors, is forthcoming in spring 2018.
In the meantime, Booth’s a busy lady. She volunteers for the All the World’s a Stage Players, a Shakespeare troupe for homeschooled kids based at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts, where she’s directing a production of “Twelfth Night.” Come January, she’ll enroll in University of Massachusetts Boston’s M.A. program in English literature, and plans to write her thesis on, you guessed it, Shakespeare.
Booth also plans on continuing to write fiction. “You get to be in charge of everything. You’re acting and directing and stage managing the whole manuscript,” she said. “I can disappear into it for a long time.”
With “Saving Hamlet,” Shakespeare is the passion Booth falls into. She wants her readers to do the same. “That’s my trap door,” she asks. “What’s yours?”
This paper, written in 2011, received a great review from Booth’s professor.
John Blanding/Globe Staff
This paper, written in 2011, received a great review from Booth’s professor.
Ethan Gilsdorf, the author of “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks,” can be reached at ethan@ethangilsdorf.com. Follow him on Twitter @ethanfreak.
Molly Booth is a total Shakespeare nerd. She grew up homeschooled in Massachusetts, and spent most of her time reading Tamora Pierce novels and pretending to be Redwall characters with her four siblings. In high school, she was a stage manager for three different community theatres, which almost killed her. She went to Bunker Hill Community College first, and then Marlboro College in Vermont, where she studied writing, literature, and Elizabethan history. While there, she wrote the first drafts of Saving Hamlet. Molly now lives in Portland, ME, with her cat, dog, and one-eyed rat. You can find her on twitter (@mollygbooth) sporadically, and on Tumblr (muchadoaboutmolly.tumblr.com) habitually.
Saving Hamlet
263.49 (Dec. 2, 2016): p111.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Saving Hamlet
Molly Booth. Hyperion, $17.99
ISBN 978-1-4847-5274-6
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Fans of the Bard will relish this evocative and witty time-travel tale that has student stage manager Emma falling through a trapdoor into Shakespeare's 17th-century Globe Theater, where the high school sophomore is mistaken for a male backstage assistant. Before Emma has a chance to adjust to the language, conventions, and stench of Elizabethan thespians, she is swept into the frenzied preparations for the premiere production of Hamlet, the same play being rehearsed at her school under the questionable leadership of a new student director. Using the trapdoor as a portal between two centuries, Emma begins leading a double life, finding crises, triumphs, and romance in both worlds. First-time author Booth captures the thrills of the theater in two eras while providing a striking portrait of Shakespeare and the Chamberlain's Men through Emma's eyes. Her energetic narrative encapsulates general issues of Elizabethan England (disease, pollution, hygiene) and personal ones confronting Emma in modern times (earning respect from her cast, rebuilding broken friendships, and saving a show from potential disaster). As enlightening as it is enjoyable, this whimsical novel deserves applause of its own. Ages 12-up.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Saving Hamlet." Publishers Weekly, 2 Dec. 2016, p. 111. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475224734&it=r&asid=65a976bdf802aade3d48aca97171cc4d. Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475224734
Booth, Molly. Saving Hamlet
Blake Norby
39.5 (Dec. 2016): p68.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
4Q * 4P * J * S
Booth, Molly. Saving Hamlet. Hyperion, 2016. 352p. $17.99. 978-1-4847-5274-6.
Sophomore year is quickly becoming overwhelming to Emma Allen. She has changed her style with a new haircut and new wardrobe, given up life as a soccer jock, and become a theater geek as stage manager for her school's play. Her best friend loses the lead and gets in trouble with her parents for kissing a girl. Emmas crush is gay, her lead actor needs help, and the director of the play is a dictator. Emmas life gets even more complicated, though, when she accidentally travels back in time to the Globe Theater where William Shakespeare's Hamlet is getting ready to be performed. Her new look has everyone in Shakespeare's time confusing her for a boy and she becomes an assistant for the production. It is in the 1600s that Emma meets a new crush-worthy actor. As Emma travels back and forth between the two time periods, she learns important lessons about dealing with the drama in high school and in life.
This is a wonderfully quirky tale that combines time travel, theater, and humor to create a subtle coming-of-age story. While Emma's ability to travel back and forth in time drives the plot forward, it is mainly used as the vehicle by which Emma finds out and accepts who she is--through the bard's Hamlet. Emma is an extremely relatable character surrounded by only somewhat exaggerated high school drama. At times laugh-out-loud funny, this book is sure to entice teen readers who enjoy a variety of stories.--Blake Norby.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Norby, Blake. "Booth, Molly. Saving Hamlet." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2016, p. 68+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA474767967&it=r&asid=476fe37579a6aac197410e15e16cb1c5. Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A474767967
Saving Hamlet
263.38 (Sept. 19, 2016): p70.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* Saving Hamlet
Molly Booth. Hyperion, $17.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4847-5274-6
Fans of the Bard will relish this evocative and witty time-travel tale that has student stage manager Emma falling through a trapdoor into Shakespeare's 17th-century Globe Theater, where the high school sophomore is mistaken for a male backstage assistant. Before Emma has a chance to adjust to the language, conventions, and stench of Elizabethan thespians, she is swept into the frenzied preparations for the premiere production of Hamlet, the same play being rehearsed at her school under the questionable leadership of a new student director. Using the trapdoor as a portal between two centuries, Emma begins leading a double life, finding crises, triumphs, and romance in both worlds. First-time author Booth captures the thrills of the ' theater in two eras while providing an striking portrait of Shakespeare and the Chamberlain's Men through Emma's eyes. Her energetic narrative encapsulates general issues of Elizabethan England (disease, pollution, hygiene) and personal ones confronting Emma in modern times (earning respect from her cast, rebuilding broken friendships, and saving a show from potential disaster). As enlightening as it is enjoyable, this whimsical novel deserves applause of its own. Ages 12--up. Agent: Alexander Slater, Trident Media Group. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Saving Hamlet." Publishers Weekly, 19 Sept. 2016, p. 70. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA464352798&it=r&asid=e71b21b8f69a91df4bf27395ed2efa9b. Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A464352798
Booth, Molly. Saving Hamlet
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan
62.10 (Oct. 2016): p103.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
BOOTH, Molly. Saving Hamlet. 352p. ebook available. Disney-Hyperion. Nov. 2016. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781484752746.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Gr 7 Up--With her short new haircut and black clothes, Emma is ready to put her soccer days behind her and join the ranks of theater geeks as stage manager for her high school's student-directed production of Hamlet. However, when her best friend Lulu loses the lead to inexperienced soccer star Josh, problems begin. Already feeling vulnerable after her parents ground her for kissing a girl, Lulu snaps when Emma starts coaching Josh and then breaks off their friendship. Even worse, Emma discovers that Brandon, her crush, is gay, so her romantic prospects seem doomed. Perspective comes when Emma falls through an onstage trapdoor, traveling back in time to Elizabethan England, where she becomes assistant bookkeeper to Master Wick during a Globe Theatre performance of Hamlet. Seeing Shakespeare himself in action, she learns much about stagecraft and the true meaning of the play, knowledge that helps her salvage her schools and the Globe's productions and clarifies her romantic feelings. The well-paced narrative should have wide appeal for teen thespians. Although the initial premise seems a bit far-fetched, the major characters are well drawn and believable. The added time travel layer allows Booth to provide historical and interpretive information about the play, thereby making Shakespeare's poetry comprehensible. Less savory parts of Elizabethan life are included to help Emma realize that, despite her travails, she belongs in modem times. VERDICT This nicely plotted story with a strong female protagonist deserves a place in most YA collections.--Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Menaldi-Scanlan, Nancy. "Booth, Molly. Saving Hamlet." School Library Journal, Oct. 2016, p. 103+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466166936&it=r&asid=ff3637be6a3b04ac240bf6d5866958ce. Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466166936
SAVING HAMLET
by Molly Booth
Age Range: 12 - 16
BUY NOW FROM
GET WEEKLY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:
Email Address
Email this review
KIRKUS REVIEW
This debut novel combines a love of Shakespeare with the very real issue of gender expectations and the difficulty of fitting into roles defined by others.
Emma heads to school with a stylish new, short ’do, hoping for a fresh start after a disastrous freshman year. She’s given up soccer for drama, turning former friends into current enemies. Despite her inexperience, she’s unexpectedly promoted to stage manager. Everyone in the school production of Hamlet just adds to her stress. Brandon—hot white senior, director, and Emma’s crush—is not pulling his weight. Emma’s talented, white, bisexual BFF, Lulu, has to settle for being Ophelia instead of Hamlet. Then Emma falls through a forbidden trapdoor in the stage—into Shakespeare’s actual Globe Theatre in Elizabethan England. With her new pixie cut and slender frame, she’s mistaken for a boy and draws the attention of the Globe’s Ophelia—a boy who thinks she’s a boy, too. As she travels between centuries and cultures, she tries to cope with her own problems as well as those of her friends—both past and present. Emma’s narration includes enough minutiae to please theater-loving readers. Her transitions between times are handled fairly smoothly, Emma employing her knowledge of Elizabethan English to communicate successfully in the 17th century.
This entertaining and original novel deals not just with growing up, but with a fresh and different interpretation of “to be or not to be.” (Fantasy. 12-16)
Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-5274-6
Page count: 352pp
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 26th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15th, 2016