William's Midsummer Dreams

William S. and his sister, Jancy and brother, Buddy are no longer Baggetts.  Their last name has been changed to Hardison in this sequel to Snyder's William S. and the Great Escape.  Here's the back story.  They are the three youngest Baggetts, born to Ed Baggetts second and long lamented wife.  Ed is a big brutish man with three other brutish sons.  The twins are particularly nasty and they make life unbearable for the three youngest kids.  Read the first book to find out how Jancy, William S. and Buddy make their escape.

Now they are safe and living in another town entirely with their mother's sister, Fiona.   They have been legally adopted.  In the first chapter of William's Midsummer Dreams, William receives a beautiful leather bound notebook for his birthday from someone in his old town.  There is no card and the only clue to its origins in the postmark.  Jancy thinks it comes from Clarice Ogden, the girl who hid all three Baggett/Hardisons from their older brothers in the first book.  This is  a complication that William does not need.  He has plans to spend the summer at Mannsville College playing the part of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  He knows that Clarice will be there and he has no intention of having a girlfriend - yet.

William leaves a worried Jancy at home with Aunt Fiona and Buddy and goes off on his adventure.  He has the convenient habit of convincing himself that everything is just fine and that people really mean it when they tell him they are all right.  He is having too much fun to worry about Jancy and Buddy.  Then one day someone messes with William's stage props and he barely escapes serious injury.  Things look chancy and life gets complicated.

A mystery, a lot of stage craft, successes, friendship, professional jealousy, trouble with the opposite sex and an attempted kidnapping - all these elements add up to a quick read.  Readers who love the theater and acting, readers who cheer for the underdog, readers who wish their own considerable talents were appreciated, and readers who like good writing will all enjoy Snyder's latest outing.  May she have many, many more!!!