Nelly Sue Edelmeister is a skinny, thirteen-year-old, astronomy-loving nerd. She lives in Berlin with her overbearing Jewish American mother, her understanding Christian German father, and her wise substitute grand mother. She has a hopeless crush on Prince William, heir to the British throne, and she is determined to learn basketball so she can go with her school team to Great Britain and meet William. This well-crafted story, written in the first person, is filled with humor, emotion, and colorful char acters and gives readers insight into being a Jewish teenager in contemporary Berlin. Includes a glossary of foreign terms. Sydney Taylor Honor Book Award, Deutcher Jugendliteraturpreis. mjw

Originally published as Prinz William, Maximilian Minsky und Ich in German by RowohltTaschenbuchVerlag Germany, in 2002.

"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.