Gretchen Woelfle

Pickpocket Kit Buckles is caught plying his trade at the Theatre playhouse, where the Lord Chamberlain's Men perform the plays of William Shakespeare. To avoid being sent to prison or the workhouse, Kit agrees to work for the players, sweeping the stage and running errands. Trouble is brewing for the Chamberlain's Men, who own the building but not the ground it sits on, and are in disputes with their landlord. While he is out of London for the holidays, they hire carpenters and carters to dismantle the building and take it away, to be reassembled into the playhouse that would become the Globe. Kit is drawn into the life of the playhouse, but could he ever become one of the company? Or is there another trade out there for him?

I was in grad school when I learned of this real-life heist performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, when they disassembled the Theatre playhouse, moved it to the other side of the river, and reopened it as the Globe. I thought at the time that it would make a great children's book, and I'm glad to see that that's been done. I enjoyed this story, especially the child's perspective. Kit has a hair-trigger temper and his own reasonable angst about what's to become of him, but those details help make him into a fully rounded character. I didn't care much for the illustrations, which don't serve the story particularly well, but the text is strong and the real-life history behind it interesting. This book has been languishing on my to-be-read shelf, but I'll find a home for it in my permanent collection because of the Shakespeare connection.… (altro)