Shakespeare's Scribe by Gary Blackwood

This book is the second in a series, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. It's a great historical fiction novel that centers around William Shakespeare's acting company, but you need to read The Shakespeare Stealer before this one. In this book, the group is forced to travel the company due to the plague. Many cities are not allowing the cast to perform due to the fear of the disease being spread among the spectators. Shakespeare also breaks his arm, so Widge is asked to use his unique writing skills to scribe for him. Another arrogant, young actor joins the cast, and he starts to take away some of the parts that once belonged to Widge. Along the way, Widge meets a man who may, or may not, be his father. Widge becomes attached to the man due to the fact that he knows nothing of his own childhood, but the man may be a thief who is stealing from the company's money chest.

I enjoy Widge's naive, fragile, but determined, character. He's reluctant to cause any conflict with the acting group, because he's afraid they may cast him out. It's the first "family" he's ever had, and he's afraid to lose them. However, he has a sense of right and wrong and does his best to make good decisions, even though they may create new problems. The author offers some interesting conflicts in an uncommon time of the world's history. I like relearning information about Europe's history around the year 1600. The facts aren't forced upon the reader, but they're worked into the conflict and plot.

Lexile level from lexile.com 870