Rock Bottom: A Midsummer Nightmare

by Ross Montgomery, Mark Beech (Illustrator)

Nick is truly, madly in love with Jessie Stone. And she doesn't even know his name. In a ploy to win her heart, he plans to star alongside her in the school production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. But when he's cast as the foolish Bottom instead of the romantic lead, his whole world comes crashing down. Enter Robyn, school mischief-maker, who has some crafty tricks up her sleeve. With her help Nick is sure he can get Jessie to notice him just as long as his grand plans don't go up in smoke ... A laugh-out-loud comical caper of friendship, true love and a completely disastrous school Shakespeare production from bestselling author Ross Montgomery. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 8+

Genres: Fiction

88 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2020

About the author

Ross Montgomery has worked as a pig farmer, a postman and a primary school teacher, so writing books was the next logical step. He spent his childhood reading everything he could get his hands on, from Jacqueline Wilson to Beano annuals, and it taught him pretty much everything that's worth knowing. If you looked through his pockets you'd find empty crisp packets, lists of things to do, and a bottle of that stuff you put on your nails to stop you biting them. He lives in London with his girlfriend, a cat called Fun Bobby, and a cactus on every available surface.

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never did the course of true love run smooth and it’s even more bumpy when the whole affair is one sided and one person will do almost anything to get someone to notice them. Such is the premise of Montgomery’s ‘Rock Bottom’; a carnivalesque humorous parody of a play within a play within a play.

Nick has long been besotted with the outwardly-beautiful Jessie in his class but she hasn’t a clue he exists. What can he do to win her over? Why audition for the lead role in the school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream of course! She’ll made for the main female role and if he can bag that leading male then true love is bound to happen.

But then Nick has never really even been noticed by the drama teacher either and he’s hardly got the charisma required…so the role of Bottom it is. You’d think playing the role of a fool in a play would be enough to deter Nick but this is not the case. With the help of his friends and other school outcasts, Nick has an idea to turn the play on its head and win the heart of the girl he fancies.

The pace and humour of Montgomery’s addition to the Barrington Stoke collection reminded me of Pat Hutchins’ series of school stories (such as Follow That Bus). Frazzled drama teachers, wacky ideas executed by children and general chaos make for some wonderful humour and there’s even a nice message about friendship at the end too.

Great fun and all presented into Barrington Stoke's dyslexia-friendly font and paper which helps reduce visual strain. Fortunately for us, Ross has more in this series in the pipeline.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

very funny

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully funny Shakespeare inspired story that made me laugh out loud. This is a brilliant story of a boy who will do anything for love... and it has catastrophic consequences. Set in a school around a school performance of AMSND, Nick just wants Jessie to notice him! Funny, ridiculous and spot on! Really can’t wait for the next!

[Paula Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely superb! Laugh out loud fun from the first page. Wonderful one liners and links to the original play. I will most definitely be using this is my class, a perfect short read.

[Frankie Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, funny story, popular with self declared ‘non readers’.