Star-Crossed

Twelve-year-old Mattie wrestles with her crush on Gemma as they participate in their school production of *Romeo and Juliet *in what *School Library Journal *calls “a fine choice for middle school libraries in need of an accessible LGBTQ stories.”

Twelve-year-old Mattie is thrilled when she learns the eighth grade play will be *Romeo and Juliet. *In particular, she can’t wait to share the stage with Gemma Braithwaite, who has been cast as Juliet. Gemma is brilliant, pretty—and British!—and Mattie starts to see her as more than just a friend. But Mattie has also had an on/off crush on her classmate Elijah since, well, *forever*. Is it possible to have a crush on both boys AND girls?

If that wasn’t enough to deal with, things offstage are beginning to resemble their own Shakespearean drama: the cast is fighting, and the boy playing Romeo may not be up to the challenge of the role. And due to a last-minute emergency, Mattie is asked to step up and take over the leading role—opposite Gemma’s Juliet—just as Mattie’s secret crush starts to become not-so-secret in her group of friends.

In this funny, sweet, and clever look at the complicated nature of middle school romance, Mattie learns how to become a lead player in her own life.