Prince William, Maximilian Minsky, and Me

by Holly-Jane Rahlens

Overview

"Nelly’s voice rings true as she deals with friends, family, love, and religion. . . . This fast-paced work will grab readers from the start." — School Library Journal

Nelly Sue Edelmeister knows exactly who she is: a skinny, brainy thirteen-year-old Berlin schoolgirl. But that’s before she develops a hopeless crush on a certain British royal. And it’s definitely before she meets the oddly attractive Maximilian Minsky, her last hope for making the basketball team before it heads off to England and she is virtually thrown into Prince William’s arms. Meanwhile, her parents’ bickering is stressing her out, as is her bat mitzvah looming ahead. Readers will relate to this funny, heartfelt tale of a determined teen as she makes some surprising discoveries about life, loss, love, and faith.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763632991
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	07/24/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	4.73(w) x 7.36(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 16 Years

About the Author

HOLLY-JANE RAHLENS was born in Queens, New York, and graduated from Queens College. She then left for Berlin, where she has lived all of her adult life. While remaining an American citizen, she has flourished in the German media world, working in radio, television, and film as an actress, producer and commentator and creating a series of highly praised one-woman shows. Written in English, PRINCE WILLIAM, MAXIMILIAN MINSKY, AND ME was translated into German and earned the prestigious 2003 Duetscher Jugendliteraturpreis as the best young adult novel published in Germany. Holly-Jane Rahlens has since adapted the book into a screenplay, which is scheduled to go into production in the summer of 2005. She says, "I wrote this book to remind myself and all my readers that life is not simply black and white. In other words, the smartest girl in the class can actually sometimes be the dumbest. An 'enfant terrible' can turn out to be Prince Charming. We can put our faith in the laws of science yet still embrace our religious roots. And even a city with a dark past like Berlin can, indeed, become a haven of light." Holly-Jane Rahlens lives in Berlin with her husband and their nine-year-old son, Noah.

Read an Excerpt

"The tryouts are for the basketball team. Not for the National Association of Nerds," Yvonne said.

"I heard," I said. "I'm not deaf." I bent down to tie my shoes.

"Maybe not deaf, but you sure are uncoordinated!" Caroline said.

"Tsk, tsk, Caroline," Yvonne said, shaking her head. "You're so unfair to poor Nelly. She has excellent coordination. Look, she can sit and tie her shoelaces at the same time."

The girls' laughter was drowned out by the sound of the bell for the next class. They picked up their things and scrambled away.

Peace.

I closed my eyes and waited for a beautiful starry sky to appear. Then I saw myself rise and float into its deep blackness. I soared higher and higher, on past one diamond of light to another. In the distance, I saw Prince William coming toward me, William in his three-piece, dark blue, pin-striped, cashmere-blend suit. He held out his hand and took me into his arms. As I put my head on his shoulder, my lips grazed the soft fuzz on the nape of his neck. My stomach felt funny. My lips tingled. We danced on and on, past my mother, astonished to see me, a graceful princess, with William, the price of princes. William spun me around and around, past Yvonne and Caroline and Nicole, all of them clearly envious, on past Pia and Anton, on past the entire student body.

Me, Nelly, William's chosen one.

I opened my eyes.

I'll show them, I thought. I'll show them all.

I stood up. Skinny. Klutzy. Knock-kneed. But determined. I had a goal in life. I was going to be a princess. But first, of course, I'd have to learn how to dribble.

_________

PRINCE WILLIAM, MAXIMILIAN MINSKY, AND ME by Holly-Jane Rahlens. Copyright (c) 2005 by Holly-Jane Rahlens. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.

Editorial Reviews

Plenty happens to Nelly in Rahlens's (Becky Bernstein Goes Berlin, for adults) coming-of-age novel set in 1997, but well-drawn, realistic characters keep her story grounded. Nelly is a self-proclaimed "overachieving jerk" growing up in Berlin and preparing for her bat mitzvah when her whole world changes, starting with her sudden, intense crush on Prince William. When she learns that her school basketball team will travel to England, klutzy Nelly decides to try out for the team, convincing Max, an eccentric new student, to coach her. Meanwhile, tensions rise between Nelly's brash journalist mother, and her gentle musician father (Max claims that Nelly's father is having an affair with Max's mother), and Nelly's surrogate grandmother, who lives with her family, suddenly falls very ill. The novel features some familiar characters and story lines, but the main characters are all both humanly flawed and extremely likable, from Nelly's mother, who can be a nag but who really does love her, to Max, who even when he shows up in a suit, looking like a prince, complains that he's "allergic to cashmere." Nelly, too, can be quite insensitive, to her mother, but also to pal Pia, who calls her an "arrogant little snotnose." The ending scene-Nelly's bat mitzvah-may come together a bit neatly, but readers will be pleased that she has finally found her true home. Ages 12-15. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7-10-Nelly Sue Edelmeister wants to be a princess, and she's not going to let the fact that she's a nerdy klutz keep her from her goal. The 13-year-old lives in modern-day Berlin where she alternates between sticking her head in a book and peering at the stars. She must also prepare for her bat mitzvah and deal with her overbearing Jewish-American mother (her understanding father is a Christian German) and the deterioration of her parents' marriage. Nelly's plan is to become a basketball star so that Prince William will fall instantly in love with her. To achieve her aim, she enlists the help of Maximilian Minsky, a former basketball captain who dresses like a vampire. Rahlens cleverly uses the game as a metaphor to depict both the girl's coming of age and of embracing her roots. Her evolution shows how quickly change can take hold, and her voice rings true as she deals with friends, family (including a wise substitute grandmother), love, and religion. The author's sprinkling of Yiddish, Hebrew, and German expressions throughout the story skillfully brings readers into the world of a young Jewish girl living in a country with a dark past. Highly engrossing and packed with emotion, humor, and distinct characters, this fast-paced work will grab readers from the start.-Erin Senig, Bronxville Public Library, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Brainy Nelly Sue Edelmeister, 13, living in Berlin with her American Jewish mother and German Christian father and preparing for her bat mitzvah, adores Britain's heartthrob king-to-be. She has to cope with a demanding mother; the unraveling of her parents' marriage due to Papa's affairs; learning to play basketball so she can go to England to meet guess who; and burgeoning romantic feelings for Max Minsky, "Wills" look-alike, who just happens to be the son of Dad's latest conquest. To these stresses, add the death of a beloved grandmother figure and coming to spiritual terms with being a Jew in Berlin while never forgetting its dark past. While it's a little pat, the story ties all these elements and more into a seamlessly plotted, keenly observed, very realistic and deeply satisfying package, narrated in first-person teenspeak filled with humor and truth (some profanities, realistic in context). It will resound with girls who'll relate to and root for Nelly as she blossoms into young womanhood and love. (glossary of Yiddish, Hebrew and German words and phrases) (Fiction. 12-14)

Kirkus Reviews