Book Review: The Loser's Guide to Life and Love

This book review is the second in a series of reviews of teen novels that adapt Shakespeare. As I explore what adaptations can do to enhance the Shakespeare experience for teens, I look at how A. E. Cannon's spinoff translates the text of A Midsummer Night's Dream into a modern setting.

Please note: Book reviews will contain spoilers, so if you want to read the book you might want to do so before reading my review.

Summary
Ed works with his friend Scout at a video rental store where he doesn't get enough respect even to afford him his own name badge. He and Scout spend boring work hours inventing a past for "Sergio" and Ed often wishes that he could be cool like made-up Sergio rather than being a boring nerd. So when beautiful Ellie comes into the store, Ed doesn't clarify the name badge mistake. He becomes Sergio, the suave Brazilian man who loves to cook and "laughs in the face of danger...[and] never sweats."

Meanwhile, Ed's nerdy friend Quark is falling for Scout. But Ellie is nursing a heartbreak of her own, and Scout acknowledges to herself that she has feelings for Ed. All the lies are stripped away one by one, and everything comes to a head at Ali and the Warrior Queen's Midsummer Eve Celebration.

Teen Themes: Female Friendship

This post is the second of two posts on themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream that appeal to teenagers, part of my ongoing project about YA lit adaptations of Shakespeare. You can see the first post here.

The second theme that I found in A Midsummer Night's Dream that I thought a YA author could take advantage of is the friendship between Hermia and Helena. Most YA lit readers are female (male teenagers read less in general, and those who do read gravitate towards non-fiction) and friendship is hugely important to teenage girls.

Teen Themes: Frustrated Love

This post is the first of two about themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream that appeal to teenagers.

When adapting Shakespeare, it's important to consider what themes the target audience will appreciate. This means that authors who adapt Shakespeare for a teen audience need to find themes in the original texts that apply to teen experience. The themes that the authors of YA Shakespeare spinoffs choose to explore may or may not be the main themes of the original plays. For example, Ariel by Grace Tiffany (see my book review) explores the ideas that imagination is powerful, that the search for power can ruin people's lives, and that friendly love trumps spontaneous romance. Some of these themes align with The Tempest but others do not.

As I read A Midsummer Night's Dream, I looked for themes that would appeal to teen readers, especially themes that I would capitalize on if I were writing a YA adaptation. One theme I thought would translate well is frustrated love.