Currently Reading: Fame, Glory, and Other Things on My To-Do List

"Hello, Mrs. Shale, I--"

Her head cocked up when she heard my voice. "Jessica, did you read A Midsummer Night's Dream?"

"Yes," I stammered.

"Well, you're apparently the only one in the class who did then. The other students think it's a play about Lysol-ander, Queen Hippo, and Puke."

Author: Janette Rallison

Mini-synopsis: Aspiring high-school actress Jessica wants to win her ex-boyfriend back -- until she winds up coaching Jordan, a famous actor's son, on the part of Romeo. Jordan doesn't want much to do with drama as his father spent too much time putting acting before family, and Jessica will have to decide whether she cares more for him or the stage.

Confession: I checked this book out a couple of weeks ago merely because author Janette Rallison's answer to Shannon Hale's question about morals in fiction made me want to cheer. Sometimes it's just nice to read something by someone whose presentation of their belief system isn't going to feel like a personal attack upon me and mine.

Every now and then I pick up a book just wanting fun and nothing else. (Being me, I tend to look in the YA and kids' lit departments--adults always seem to have to put a sting in there somewhere.) This one was successfully that: lighthearted, humorous, and very clean. It wasn't a deep read and it probably won't change my life in any grandiose ways, but it made me relax and feel cheery and sometimes that's good enough.