“Looking over the kids, he was also hoping to spy something else: an ally. Specifically, one of his own. Another black face or, if that wasn’t available, a brown face, or a yellow face. Puerto Rican. Chinese. Middle Eastern. Anything different from the parade of pink-and-cream suburban Americans. But there was none. There rarely was.”

Fifth in the Hogarth Shakespeare series, Tracy Chevalier has taken Othello and set it on a 1970’s suburban schoolyard. Seems tame? Don’t be fooled, it’s a jungle out there! Osei Kokote, a diplomat’s son from Ghana has been to enough schools to know how to navigate his surroundings. Look for an ally, avoid the bullies hungry for fresh blood. Who knew the presence of a ‘black boy’, as the students and teachers can’t help but focus on, could change the standing alliances and relationships. Love blossoms, withers and dies in a day. The children spit racism learned on the laps of their parents and the staff is even worse. I imagine some youth of today think it’s far fetched, that in the 70’s teachers would be this obvious in their racism, but disgustingly there were things that reminded me of stuff I overheard in elementary school. The main players are Osei “O” naturally, Dee, Ian and Mimi. Ian is Mimi’s boyfriend, whether she really wants him to be or not. Her only way out from under his thumb may cause the collapse of her sweet friend Dee and O’s budding love. Love on a playground full of 11 years old seems silly, but young minds have yet to learn how to corral their emotions. Ian wreaks havoc not simply out of jealousy but because he can. “Can you believe it? He’s in our class! I dare you touch him.” Touch him, Dee will and between the revulsion and fascination each student experiences as they witness these tender moments one wonders if the pretty popular girl’s love and acceptance will be enough to change the bitter minds of small children.

Walking in O’s shows is terrifying, and yet there is a admirable bravery in such a young boy. The children do have deeper thoughts than most 6th graders but it works. Reading this reminded me of why I would never do my childhood over again, the politics of the schoolyard are brutal- and don’t imagine it’s changed much. Sure, we think racism is extinct but it’s not, there is always someone ‘different’ enough to circle and peck at. Admittedly, I can’t say that kids don’t have such dramatic relationships, because thinking back (many moons ago) when I was in sixth grade, I remember couples that seemed to be playing ‘grown up’, whose relationship was a heated topic of discussion. There were tears, jealousies, break ups and reunions of their love, how deep their love! Crazy, but kids love to mimic the adult world, and want nothing more than to grow up fast.

Why one boy, Ian, takes an immediate hate to him is easy to understand. O is everything he isn’t, he is a threat to someone who is small inside. The ending is shameful and depressing. Shameful that the viciousness of one man in charge can enrage O so much that he will do something drastic and then we are left there wondering about what really just happened. I enjoyed this more than I thought, because some of these kids are feral! I was intrigued, yes read it!

Publication Date: May 16, 2017

Crown Publishing

Hogarth

New Boy by author Tracy Chevalier is the fifth installment in the Hogarth Shakespeare series and is a modern retelling of Othello. Set in the 1970s, eleven-year-old Osei or O as he is usually called since most white people can’t pronounce his name, is embarking on his first day at a new school. As the son of a Ghanian diplomat, this is the latest in a long series of elementary schools, this time in Washington DC. Despite the fact that he is the only black child, the day begins well, in fact, much better than usual. Dee, one of the most beautiful and popular girls at the school, is given the task of showing O around and the two immediately fall in love. But Ian, the schoolyard bully, immediately sees O as a target, partly just because he is new but also because he is black - there is absolutely no way, he would tolerate a relationship between a black boy and a white girl. He immediately begins devising a plan to end the relationship and he pulls many of the other children, most unknowingly, into his plot. Before the day is over, his manipulations will lead not only to broken hearts but tragedy.

It has admittedly been a long time since I read Othello but Chevalier seems to have done an admirable job of maintaining the original story with all the jealousy, hatred, cruelty, betrayal, and emotional and sexual manipulation. But it was because of this that I believe that it would have worked better if the children were even just a few years older. The behaviour and dialogue seems much too mature for children this young. And having the action all take place within the space of a single day made it even harder to believe. Where Chevalier makes up for this, though, is in her exploration of the effects of racism on the children and the teachers.

Despite my criticisms, however, I found the story compelling. Chevalier is an excellent writer especially in her ability to recreate place and emotion and, despite the problems of her rendition of Othello, she manages to convey much of the power of the original play. This may be a flawed homage to one of the Bard’s greatest dramas but it is still well worth the read.

3.5

Thanks to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

I've read a few other books in the Hogarth Shakespeare series and it is definitely a mixed bag. Some I hated, but this one--I LOVED! I have always been a big fan of Chevalier's writing and have read many of her books, so I was really excited to read this book!

I appreciated the retelling of Othello is the setting of Washington, D.C. with a private middle school. I think the author did a great job modernizing this important tragedy for today's students. The contemporary issues with racism are definitely relevant for today's society.

My only complaint is the ending. She just leaves you totally hanging! I need to go back and reread the real Othello...maybe that is the author's intent :).

What a unique take on Othello where the main characters are 11 year old children. This novel should be read in one sitting as you wonder how this first day of school is going to end.

I kind of knew from the first few pages this book was not for me. It has its merits, but it's written in a style I couldn't stand. It's like a cross between too-simple middle grade and dry adult. It wasn't what I'd expected from the author and won't be reading it again.

This book was the most disappointing of Hogarth's new Shakespeare series. The writing is flat and stiff, and the writer doesn't seem to be able to decide whether she is creating a parody of Othello or an homage to it, and so stuck in the middle of these options we end up with a book that neither illuminates nor honors the original.

I am so fortunate to have received an advanced copy of Tracy Chevalier's New Boy.
Shakespeare's characters are immediately recognizable in Osei, Dee, Ian, and the others. The playground of a suburban DC middle school in the 1970s is an accurately disturbing modern setting for Shakespeare's Othello.
The struggles created by the unknown, power, and jealousy still exist in the 21st century and mirror the Venetian setting of Shakespeare's work.
This is the first Hogarth selection that I have read, and I cannot wait to read the others!

Ok...so I need to reread Othello.

This book is short but it packs a punch. This retelling of Shakespeare's epic race story, Othello, is recreated in this suburb of Washington DC in the 1970s. The entire novel is of a single day, the first day of elementary school for a Ghanaian boy.

Osei is a worldly boy, the son of a diplomat, who falls insta-love with Dee, the blonde beauty who is the sweetheart of the school. Enter, Ian, a bully who manipulates circumstances on the school yard in order to create a wedge between the couple.

These are the most self-aware and perceptive eleven-year-olds I've ever encountered in my life! I tried to give a lot of leeway on this as it's a Shakespeare retelling, the writing is so darn good, and I actually remember being an 11 year old and...we weren't saints...but these kids, even in dialogue ask for a bit more than leeway.

Chevalier is fearless in her confrontation with race. This book is set in the 1970s, but it could very well be 2017. Racial attitudes have hardly dimmed, and she nails it. I reserve a bit a criticism for the depiction of Osei's sister, Sisi. Having endured a childhood of racism, she seeks solace in black literature and friends...for that, she is branded a radical. I thought it was harsh. Though Sisi's role in Osei's loneliness looms over him, she is but a small character in the larger story.
Overall, this is an interesting little story that examines race. It does feel preachy and tangent-y at times, and it's probably best to read Othello before tackling this story. I just kept feeling like I would appreciate this story more if I had a fresh read of the original.

This is the most disappointing installment of the Hogarth Shakespeare series I've read to date. The author reimagines the setting of Othello as a sixth grade classroom in 1970s Washington, DC. Osei is a new kid from Ghana who makes friends with Dee. Ian is the class bully. Other children, the teachers, and a principal all carry on the other parts. The handkerchief of the original play is now a pencil case. The re-imagining did not work for me. I felt I was reading a book marketed for middle schoolers. I felt the sixth graders of the 1970s were a little more like modern sixth graders than ones of that era. This retelling does not make me want to grab any of the author's other works. This review is based on an advance review copy received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC!

I love the Hogarth Shakespeare books, which are basically the classic plays in a new setting. I love the way the plots hold up. This one is a take on Othello.

In this version of Othello, a new boy in the play ground sets off the chain of events that lead to tragedy. O, a boy from Ghana, touches one of his classmates who happens to be a white girl. Teachers and class mates are outraged. The Iago character tries to trick O into believing his new found love is cheating on him

Osei Kokoke is the new boy. Again. Because his father is a Ghanian diplomat, the family has moved around and Osei has had experience with being the new boy. But there is something sinister at his new school and the day that begins filled with promise ends on a completely different note. Chevalier captures the confusion of people who are trying not to be racist but don't understand how offensive their words and actions truly are. Chevalier captures how a bully can ingratiate himself among people who do his bidding so they won't be his victims.. While this isn't a story I would have expected from Chevalier, it is well-crafted and serves as a reminder to all of us to look beyond the external.

I have mixed feelings about this Hogarth Press Shakespeare project based on Othello. The author does indeed use Shakespeare’s play and make it applicable to the 21t century. It is almost as though she had a list of checkpoints and ticked off each one as she wrote. Cast of characters check. Othello becomes Osei, a handsome eleven year old from Ghana, the son of diplomatic parents. Desdemona is Dee, the prettiest and most popular girl in sixth grade. Iago is Ian, the ultimate villain. Emilia is Minnie the nervous and unwell girlfriend of Ian. The principal of the school is Mrs. Duke, not exactly the Duke of Venice but close enough. Chevalier turns Desdemona’s father Brabantio into the sixth grade teacher Mr. Branant whose favorite student is sweet Dee. Objects are transposed. The strawberry handkerchief belonging to Othello’s mother and given to Desdemona becomes a strawberry pencil box belonging to a beloved sister and given to Dee. Othello’s spellbinding tales about the anthropophagi and men with their heads in their chests are retold as a young boy’s adventures in far off Ghana, London, New York. The novel has five short chapters, about as long as a five act play. Check….check….check.

So why did this novel not work for me personally? I think the author tried too hard to draw the parallel. I have to keep stressing that this is a very personal opinion because the novel is well-written, and the story is certainly fast-moving and compelling. Chevalier set the novel in a good school in a middle class Washington DC suburb in the 1970’s. Osei is the first Black child to enroll in this public school and so has to face a racist environment yet again. As the child of diplomats he has gotten used to being in this situation and knows how to handle the flinching, the furtive whispers, the outright rudeness of his fellow classmates, the distain and dislike of his teachers. This school becomes different in one respect. The sweet girl appointed to be his guide is fascinated by the new boy and soon they become friends, begin to “go out” together (i.e., sit by themselves at recess and share a kiss.) Yet, by the end of the day, for Chevalier allows only one day for her story, Shakespeare’s tragedy comes to fruition.

Things are too rushed. I know the lives of eleven year olds are rushed. They have best friends on Monday who are ignored two days later. Their hormones are beginning to kick in and they have to deal with these new strange and wonderful feelings. Still, too much happens in too short of a time. Osei seems too savvy a kid to fall for Ian’s manipulations. And I don’t think Ian works at all as a character. He is an outright bully, extorting money from his classmates, picking fights, terrorizing the younger students. The kids are afraid of him and he does have only one sidekick, the useless Rodrigo/Rod. The point about Iago is that the audience knew his evil intentions because he tells them, but to his fellow characters he is the perfect ensign, the hail fellow well met, the chum to get drunk with. He has earned Othello’s trust through his behavior, which appears exemplary. That’s the reason Othello believes his story about Desdemona and Cassio. He has not a single reason to suspect him. There is no one in the playground who would believe anything Ian says and even the new kid, Osei has seen him brutalize the fourth graders. So why would Osei suddenly begin to trust this kid?

Maybe it would have worked more for me if Chevalier had made Osei the popular young Ghanaian who really thinks he is accepted by his classmates until he crosses the line by becoming Dee’s “boyfriend” and opens the wedge to allow his best friend Ian to work his poison. But it would take more than one day to develop these characters.

I realize that the author’s main theme is the insidious racism in the school and how it poisons the students. This she makes abundantly clear and does it well. It is racism, not jealousy that causes the final tragedy. Teachers who should have known better fail their students and students are only repeating what they have observed the adults at school and at home do. Tolerance and compassion are still lessons that need to be learned.

The audience would seem to be Middle School or Young Adult. It certainly would be a good book to use in a classroom. And so I will give it three stars as a book illustrating the evils of racism. But there is so much more to Othello…

I love this series, I really cannot wait for more.

Such a depressing book. I'm sure sorry, but I didn't like it.

The story of Othello set in a 1970 era Washington, DC school yard makes no reference to the original. Yet sadly little seems to have changed since Shakepeare first imagined this tragedy.
This story is equally tragic, and likely reaches a younger audience.

Highly recommended.

I somehow found the story of Othello even more tragic and chilling here, with all the characters as children. It definitely works; children can be vicious at times, and are influenced by the behavior of the adults around them, particularly when it comes to discriminatory behavior, so the Othello plot doesn't need to change very much for it to fit into its schoolyard setting here. Even knowing it was an Othello retelling, I was hoping for a happy ending (or at least a hopeful ending) right up until the end. Excellent writing by Chevalier, as always.

I know Tracy Chevalier's work. I know Othello. What I don't know is why this was ever published. Did I misread something, and is this intended to be a YA book?