Nelly
Sue Edelmeister is like any other 13-year-old girl who wants to be a
cosmologist; she is not very well liked. She is awkward, brilliant and does not
see what is so great about boys. All that changes when William comes along.
Nelly becomes obsessed w/ William and thinks the only thing standing in her way
of being his girlfriend is that he lives in England while she lives in Germany.
The other problem is that he is a prince, next in line to the British throne.

Nelly
has enough problems worrying about how she is going to get to England to snag
her prince when it appears that her parents’ marriage may have some serious
problems of its own. Nelly’s mom is insisting that she have a bat mitzvah, but
she does not have time to study the torah after she finds out her school’s
basketball team is going to England and needs two more players. Nelly needs
help dribbling and enlists the help of a cape-wearing basketball player who may
give Prince William a run for his money.

Nell’s
relationship with both her parents changes drastically. The author shows Nelly’s
vision of her parents through a child’s eyes, and then through those of a young
adult who is more aware of what is really going on in their marriage. Nelly
starts out the book being a loner but between a new ally at school and the
vampire wannabe, she realizes that counting on others may not be so bad.

Rahlens
does a nice job of mixing the kids with the adult characters. The reader gets
an idea of what it would be like to live in a foreign country. She has written
a very funny and likeable character in Nelly that makes the reader root for
her.

© 2006 Amy Ridley

Amy Ridley
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Boston University.

Categories: Children