Three Rotten Eggs (Hamlet Chronicles) - Softcover

Maguire, Gregory

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060546573 ISBN 13: 9780060546571

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005

Synopsis

Spring has come to sleepy Hamlet, Vermont, and trouble is in the air. The students in Miss Earth's class are supposed to be concentrating on the charity egg hunt, but instead they're fighting with each other. The hunt is a near disaster. Then three very strange eggs -- with genetically altered, fire-breathing chicks inside -- show up, and the trouble really starts.

Can Miss Earth's class band together, right their wrongs, and save the three rotten eggs -- and themselves?

About this title

About the Author

Gregory Maguire is the New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; Lost; Mirror Mirror; and the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. Now a beloved classic, Wicked is the basis for a blockbuster Tony Award–winning Broadway musical. Maguire has lectured on art, literature, and culture both at home and abroad. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.

From School Library Journal

Grades 4-6--This fifth in the series continues to recount the rivalry between the girls, the Tattletales, and the boys, the Copycats, of Miss Earth's class in rural Vermont. It's an eventful spring for them, with a bullying new student, Thud Tweed; a Spring Egg Hunt; and three genetically altered eggs that hatch fire-breathing chicks. A company called Geneworks is attempting to reverse evolution to create a large, unquestioning workforce that can be rented out at great gain. While seven of the genetically altered eggs, tucked in a briefcase, are en route to researchers at Dartmouth College, a member of Mother Nature's Avengers steals the briefcase just before his motorcycle is struck by lightning. Unbeknownst to anyone, three of the eggs survive, and they are discovered by three of Miss Earth's students during the egg hunt, a competitive fund-raiser for a new fire engine. Miss Earth's class wins, but then is disqualified for lying and cheating. To redeem themselves, the students join together to raise money by putting on a concert by wildly popular country-and-western singer Petunia Whiner, who just happens to be Thud's mother. There is nothing subtle here; silly puns and slapstick humor carry this broad farce. Maguire captures the social politics of middle schoolers, and conveys the message that cooperation, rather than cliques, solves problems. Of the three chicks, one dies, but two remain, one in captivity and one on the loose in the wild. Will they turn up in the next Hamlet Chronicle? Fans of the series will be anxiously anticipating the next delightful romp.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060546573
• ISBN 13: 9780060546571
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240