Selby would rather watch TV than do homework, which she does until her parents notice and punish her by making her work with a tutor. That tutor insists she reads Hamlet, but neither of them expect to find themselves in the play itself, spending time with Hamlet.

For a book about how amazing reading is, this book is so boring. I’m not sure how you can make hanging out with Hamlet so dull, but somehow this book managed it.

The dialogue is weak and strange. People don’t talk like the kids do in this book. There’s a lot of strange banter that . Their actions don’t fully make sense. A lot of what’s happening in Hamlet has to be explained by her tutor, and that somehow makes Hamlet seem much less interesting than it is. This book might have been better if Selby was younger because her being 16 and this infuriating made the book feel more aggravating. The book in general feels like it should have been middle grade instead of YA. I think a ten-year-old is more likely to enjoy this than a fifteen-year-old.

The plot doesn’t completely make sense. Why does Selby travel to Hamlet specifically and not other books? How did she manage to not turn in homework for months? Why are her parents, supposedly smart people, more clueless even than the average parent in 90s cartoons? What on earth was that ending? How were Hamlet and Selby able to understand each other when they speak such different varieties of English?

However, the book had some funny lines. I liked the unique take on Hamlet and the ideas, even if I didn’t like the execution.

I’m usually such a sucker for books where the point is how wonderful reading and words are. This book did manage to convince me how important it is to use them well because this book doesn’t.

Hamlet is Not OK introduces Selby Michaels, who is left on her own for six months and stops doing her homework. Her parents, who own a bookstore, go to a parent-teacher conference and return home in a rage. She is banned from TV, computers and music and must work with her brother's nerdy friend Dan to make up the work. When she is working on an English paper on Hamlet, Dan has her read the play aloud, and they are magically transported to Elsinore Castle in Denmark and meet Hamlet's father's ghost. As the story unfolds, Dan explains what's happening, and Selby is determined to stop the violence. Dan cautions her about changing the narrative, telling her it will impact literature for centuries to come. As Selby attempts to save Ophelia and stop Hamlet's downward spiral, they travel back and forth between the bookstore and the 17th century, witnessing familiar plots and famous lines, that even Shelby recognizes. Coming up with a compromise to stop the mayhem, but leaving the story intact, Dan and Shelby bond over their shared magical journey. Although the author includes lines from the play, she prefaces the story with a caveat suggesting the reader to skip them if they wish, as Dan's explanations of them suffice.

I read this aloud to my 10-year old daughter and we both loved it. I recently wrapped up teaching Hamlet to my senior English class. My daughter was interested in Shakespeare’s text, but it is still too advanced for her. This novel provided a delightful introduction to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We loved Selby and Dan’s adventure to Elsinore Castle. I especially loved Ophelia’s rewritten fate as a member of the Bennett family in Pride and Prejudice. I hope this is the beginning of a series! I’d love to see Spratt place Selby in King Lear! My daughter and I will definitely check out more of Spratt’s novels.

Thank you NetGalley, Independent Publisher Group, and RA Spratt for the early access copy of Hamlet is Not OK.

Hamlet is Not OK follows Selby, who often feels overlooked in a family of high achievers. She hates doing her school work and after six months of not doing her work, her parents hire a tutor. When Dan, the tutor, makes Selby read Hamlet, they are transported into the play.

Hamlet is Not OK includes Shakespearean passages that helps breakdown the language, witty banter, and funny situations. This will be a good fit for those that enjoy Shakespeare and a tool to help students understand the story of Hamlet.

This was a pretty solid romance. I don't have many notes for this book--it was pretty mid. It didn't stand out among the many romance books that I read, but it wasn't bad at all either. I'd recommend it to a beginner romance reader.

Arc provided in exchange for an honest review.

This is actually a funny and hilarious book. I had laughed so many times in between their banter, their action but is it a good book? No. The concept is still raw and R. A. Spratt did not executed it well enough. There are plot holes everywhere and the ending is not really giving it for me. And what caused them especially Selby to have the ability to transport or teleport through books? Not much explanation.

I really wanted to read this arc, but the formatting was impossible to read on any platform I tried. I will be waiting to have an opportunity to buy the book to read it.

Selby is a student who is just trying to get through high school. She is not great at school, but manages to hide it, until her parents discover she hasn't been doing her homework. They make her get a tutor, who starts their lessons with Hamlet. Suddenly, they find themselves sucked into the book. Selby realizes everyone has a tragic ending and tries to get them the help they need.

I really enjoyed this one! I thought it was such a fun unique take on Hamlet and the idea of rewriting the books so there is more justice. I found it super easy to read and very approachable! There are some spoilers if you haven't read Hamlet (I have so it was ok), but even if you haven't read Hamlet, you can enjoy this one!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I DNFed Hamlet is Not OK around 10% in. There was too much telling, rather than showing and all characters introduced had the same voice. The writing style was bland and there was nothing to persuade me to keep reading. It's a shame because the mention of Hamlet is usually enough to get me through any book.

3.5 stars

This was a nice book with an interesting idea, and I had quite a good time with it. There is a lot to appreciate in there, and I will be back to that in a moment, but there were also a couple of things that didn’t really work for me. When I requested the title I thought that this book was a YA, and even if I am not always their biggest fan, I have nothing against them and I can enjoy them, I was quite curious because the premises sounded intriguing enough so I just went with it. But this is more middle-grade than YA, and I wouldn’t have requested it if I had known it beforehand, because middle-grades tend to have some tropes that I can’t stand (and sure, we have them in YA too, and not only there, but still the probabilities of finding them decrease as the intended target age grow), namely parents. I mean, I don’t have anything against parents as a category (obviously), and I am always happy to see parents portrayed in books too, but I can’t stand that in the majority of middle-grade books, the parents are not normal people who behave somehow logically or understandably how normal human behave (and I know that people are strange and don’t always make sense, or better, they almost never make sense but still…), no, we can’t have that, so they usually are confusing figures that change personality in a blink of an eye, or they are people who shouldn’t be allowed near a succulent, let alone taking care of children.

And it was the case in this book too. I mean, Selby’s parents seem pretty normal at the beginning, they love books and knowledge, they have a little bookshop that they love and they are not the best at taking care of their third child, Selby. They are not bad, but they give her a lot of freedom, she basically takes care of herself because they are not-quite-but-almost neglecting her, but they seem invested in the happiness of their children, even if Selby doesn’t quite fit into the family because she is not a bookworm, and she doesn’t have some passion or particular hobbies, she doesn’t quite fit the mold so they have a harder time understanding her. And mind me, I know that they are not a good parental model, because neglecting is a bad bad thing, but so far things are pretty… normal, if you pass me the term.
So, this was the initial situation, and it wasn’t good, but it made sense. But then they discovered that Selby had not done her homework, and it had been six months since she did them. And they change their behavior, totally so. They became almost her jailers, and they are constantly showing strong disappointment toward her, like she did something horrible, while she has done like any normal teenager would have done. So, sure, disappointment and punishment can be understandable, like the fact that they find her a tutor to do the homework, but still, it is a tad too much since Selby is not really at fault here.
And what’s even worse is that it seems like Selby is dyslexic, and they don’t have a clue. And when she says something about that to them they simply ignore her.

But, my rant about the parents aside, this book is pretty good. Selby is an amazing MC, she is resilient, she is strong-willed and so pragmatic! I adored her pragmatism! And, from time to time, she made me chuckle because she was so much fun, too! She is great, and she would be an amazing role model for young girls out there (and even for boys too, obviously!), and she has a really strong moral compass. I adored her, and this book is worth reading for her alone.
That said, she is not the only good reason to read this book. I really appreciated the idea behind it, and I think that it is also quite a fun way to draw younger people to reading in general, and to Shakespeare in particular. I think this would be a good choice for recommended readings in school. (I am not a fan of mandatory reading, I don’t really think that reading should be an imposition, but I am a big fan of recommended reading, and this will be a great choice.)

I think that the idea was brilliant, and I had fun reading this. I am not the biggest fan of Hamlet, and I am not the biggest fan of classics in general, to be honest, but I think that this is a great way to make people interested in them, and “scholastic” reasons aside, it was a nice reading. It is also quite fast and short, so I think that all in all, it was well worth my time. And Selby is soooo worth meeting!

This is one for Shakespeare lovers, especially those of us who are Hamlet fans! In this fabulous book Selby isn’t a great reader or student, made harder because she comes from a family of book worms and academics who own a bookstore. While it is never directly called out it is clear, as an English teacher, that she has a learning disorder around words and it makes her dislike reading (like many of my students over the years)! This all changes when her and her tutor Dan accidentally read themselves right into Shakespeare’s Hamlet! As Selby helps the characters deal with their depression, trauma and violent tendencies she learns more about herself in the process. Some other literary character make an appearance but this one is for all the Shakespeare lovers out there!

I am writing this review in exchange for receiving a free e-copy of the ARC from Penguin US.
Hamlet Is Not OK by R.A. Spratt is a YA time-travel switcheroo about Selby, whose parents have very gifted children...and Selby. Selby is rather forgotten as the last child in the house. And as such, she is less than motivated to do well in school. She has, in fact, not turned in a single assignment in the last six months. She is so far behind that her parents have seen fit to hire her a tutor.
As they begin the arduous task of getting Selby caught back up, they begin to read Hamlet...and they quickly discover that when Selby reads out loud...they can time travel INTO THE PLAY! There they meet Hamlet, his ghost father, Ophelia, the Queen...and chaos ensues.
Selby is put out by the idea of all the murders, and tries to fix that by just removing Hamlet from the play with terrible, long lasting consequences that they have to manage, and she's even more outraged by the treatment of Ophelia so more shenanigans ensue.
I enjoyed this, I liked how it made Hamlet attainable for anyone struggling with Shakespeare. Over and over the author emphasizes that Shakespeare isn't meant to be read--but to be SEEN, and as a former theater teacher, I literally screamed "YES!!" when I read that.
I was bothered by the ultimate ending of the book, but that's just a quibble.
Overall, Hamlet Is Not OK was cute, fun, and an adorable little jaunt into a heavy Shakespeare play, making it MUCH more accessible to a larger audience, and I enjoyed it immensely.

I wanted to love this...but I teach English and students don't sound like this at all. It made it difficult to read and while I enjoyed the premise, it was just not a good fit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really had high hopes for this book. Honestly though, I had to force myself to not DNF it. Part of it might have been the horrible way the galley was done. With YA and AU and Penguin everywhere. It made it very hard to focus and read.
Other than that, the sentences were short and choppy. And without ruining the ending, I didn’t like how it spoiled the ending of Hamlet.
As a mother of a dyslexic child, I think that Selbys character could have been handled better. I found it very hard to believe that bookish parents wouldn’t understand and help her. Also, I would definitely know before my child hadn’t done homework in 2 years. Maybe a few months would be more realistic.
This definitely is more of a MA read and they possibly might enjoy it.

felt very MG. this isn't BAD, but it's very much not what i normally read. in general i found it fine, but generally nonexciting and not the strongest one i've read. 3.5

Selby is failing all of her classes, and until further notice, she is going to be tutored by her brother's friend, Dan. There's no way this can go well, especially because Dan makes Selby read. Out loud.

But when Selby's reading aloud transports her and Dan into the book Hamlet, Selby really gets more than she bargained for. Hamlet is declaring his love for Selby. Dan is distracted by Ophelia. And all Selby wants is to not be involved. Until Dan points out that their being there is altering the story. Then Selby starts getting ideas of how this story can go...

If you're looking for magic world building, you will not find it here. But this book doesn't need it. Selby's compassion for everyone she meets, Dan's passion for reading, and all of their falling on the floor is enough to carry a hi-lo reader (or any reader!) through this fun Hamlet immersion. Whether readers know Hamlet or not, they will get to know him in Hamlet is Not OK.

Hamlet is Not OK, but this book was more than okay. I loved this book and I will definitely recommend that my YA patrons read this asap!

I will start by saying I am an English major who read Hamlet for fun in ninth grade. I say that first because I didn't really like this book. Selby sounds like a latchkey kid whose parents pay very little attention to her until it's too late. The whole premise of she and her tutor getting sucked into the actual play of Hamlet sounded intriguing but did a face plant in terms of being interesting. Also, I felt like the Shakespearian dialogue interspersed throughout the story didn't match what I remember from the play and I have read it multiple times and seen it performed live. The story just lacked overall and I had to make myself finish it.

My thanks to Penguin ebooks and Netgalley for this book. My opinions are my own.

This book was HILARIOUS! I thought the whole plot and story idea were so good, and very original! I loved seeing Hamlet interact with modern day characters and vice versa, the way they were able to understand each other but also not really was just so funny! And I really enjoyed the way they fixed the stories too, it was very creative! Overall, amazing book, definitely a new favorite!!!

I really liked the story and the characters. Even though I didn’t relate to our mc’s problems I found it very important the mention of that ones.

I didn’t know a thing about Hamlet because I’ve never read it but I was impressed with the way I understand everything and somehow learn something about it.

It’s a quick and short read, for a younger audience.