Description: Theater-loving Noah has long anticipated acting in his small town's sixth-grade play, and this year the selection is Hamlet--or, rather, an abbreviated, sunnier, "no-trauma" version that the theater's benefactor deems more appropriate. Nonetheless, the drama students are excited, even when the director withdraws from the production after literally breaking a leg. When Mike, a mysterious assistant with weirdly outdated clothing and a penchant for disappearing, takes over the proceedings, everything gets a little strange. Is he a ghost? Noah wonders. And if Mike is the famous (but deceased) Broadway director whom he resembles, what is he doing haunting a school theater? Freeman's story is wonderfully fast and funny, with quick-witted screwball banter, and in a clever touch, family dinners at Noah's house are presented in script form. The drama kids are a diverse bunch, and issues of race and privilege are touched upon. A suspenseful, silly story full of humor and heart that will make a theater lover of any young reader.

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