Set in Elizabethan England, this is the tale of girl who is shuffled between disinterested parents, and left to look after herself much of the time.  To make things extra challenging, Meggy has a disability during an historical time period in which such struggles were viewed as just punishment from God sent down upon someone who had it coming.  But Meggy’s got spunk and she faces things head on, making friends along the way, and coming to the rescue when she discovers her drip of a dad is about to be unwittingly used by some thugs to play the key role in a dastardly deed.  There’s a lot about Meggy that kids today can relate to, but there’s a lot about the setting that students will find so very different from their own world, that many may have trouble understanding.  Best suited for more sophisticated readers who have some background knowledge of this time period or used as a read-aloud or literature-circle shared reading experience with an adult who can explain/interpret as questions arise.