Hurly Burly: Macbeth Mayhem

Ross Montgomery's Hurly Burly: Macbeth Mayhem is a very funny school story for 9 year olds about the best-behaved girl in school going very, very bad.

What happens

Beth has won the best-behaviour prize two years running. A third win at the prize-giving assembly would be a school record, and she's already practised her victory speech. (Winners don't give speeches. She's sure nobody will mind.)

Then Robyn, the naughtiest girl in school, swipes the headmaster's planner. Beth takes it off her to return it, of course. But one little peek at the prize list couldn't hurt, could it? She's come third.

What follows is Macbeth, school-sized. Beth sets out to get rid of her two rivals, Claire the clean freak and Duncan the brilliant artist. There's a rude message on the whiteboard in handwriting that looks a lot like Claire's. There's an even ruder banner unrolled in front of every parent in the school. (For the record, Mr Fortune did NOT snog a dog.) Then her best friend Rianna works it out, and Beth does something much worse.

Beth tells the story herself, so you're right inside her head as she talks herself into each terrible idea. If she's won anyway, then it "wasn't really cheating to look", was it? That's exactly how kids reason (and plenty of grown-ups, if we're honest).

If you know the play, you'll spot the red ink that won't wash off her hand, the nights without sleep and a very spooky Banquo. If your reader doesn't, that's fine. Rianna plays Banquo in the school production, and the first chapter explains the whole story of Macbeth in a few short paragraphs, gory bits and all.

It's short, just seven chapters, and it moves fast. It's a great way into Shakespeare for a child who'd run a mile from a "proper" introduction. It's also a funny, honest look at what happens when winning matters too much.

What to read next

Once they've met this drama club, they can follow it (and the same long-suffering Mr Fortune) all the way to a desert island in Tempest Terror.