Historical Books

Beware, Princess Elizabeth: A Young Royals Book

Carolyn Meyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

SUSAN'S ONLINE REVIEW 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

King Henry the 8th dies leaving Edward the throne. Edward dies after 6 years of ruling. Edward leaves the throne to Jane Dudley (that's another story called 9 days a queen.) Jane knows that Mary is the rightful ruler of Englang but is forced to be queen. Most of England wanted mary as Queen so to prevent a rebellion they took the throne from Jane and gave it to Mary after nine days of rule. Mary had Jane and her husband beheaded. Elizabeth has many spies watching her every move to prevent he from causing an rebellion. Elizabeth is sent to the same tower as her mother was sent to many years ago and beheaded. will she have the same fate as her mother read the book and find out. i'm bad at writting so the book is way better than its sounds.

Editorial Review:

Elizabeth Tudor's teenage years are hardly those of a fairy-tale princess. Her father has beheaded her mother; her jealous half sister has her locked away in the Tower of London; and her only love has betrayed her in his own quest for the throne.
Told in the voice of the young Elizabeth and ending when she is crowned queen, this is the second novel in the exciting Young Royals series.

Mary, Bloody Mary: A Young Royals Book

Carolyn Meyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 122 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Teen fans of the movie Elizabeth will be fascinated with the pomp and sinister intrigue of Mary, Bloody Mary, an engrossing story about the teen years of Mary Tudor, half sister to Queen Elizabeth and daughter to Henry VIII. As a baby, Mary was adored by her father, who carried her around on his shoulder and displayed her for the court to admire. But as his marriage with her mother, Catherine of Aragon, waned for lack of a male heir, Henry began an affair with the beautiful Anne Boleyn. Mary was convinced that Anne was a witch. Didn't everyone know she had a sixth finger? And wasn't it Anne who persuaded Henry to declare his first marriage invalid (rendering Mary a bastard)? As the king grows ever colder, Mary is banished to a distant house, forbidden from seeing her mother, left to wear rags, and finally--at Anne's bidding--summoned back to court to be a servant to her baby half sister Elizabeth. Once there, Mary lives in constant dread that she will be poisoned or sent to the executioner's block in one of her father's rages. By the time Anne Boleyn herself is beheaded, Henry's first daughter has become the bitter and angry woman who was to be known as Bloody Queen Mary for her savage religious genocide. Carolyn Meyer, long acclaimed for her teen fiction (Drummers of Jericho), accurately captures the glitter and grandeur as well as the brutality of this fascinating period in history. (Ages 10 to 16) --Patty Campbell

Parallel Journeys

Eleanor H. Ayer, Helen Waterford, Alfons Heck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The World Must Never Forget 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The world must never forget the holocaust. Today some people espouse a theory that the nearly 12,000,000 deaths (6,000,000 of them Jews) at the hands of the Nazi party never happened. This sad, but honest, tale traces the lives of two persons who lived through that era. Helen Waterford was a Jew who experienced the atrocities first hand. Alfons Heck was a high ranking member of Hitler's youth. Both lived to tell their tales. Both met each other after the war. Both told their tales together. This book alternates chapters between the two principle characters so the reader can witness this period through eyes on both sides of the ideological conflict. This is really two books in one. Either story will challenge the mind and heart. Either one of the stories is an important read, but both placed together in this manner makes for a 5-star book. Our local middle school uses this classic in some of the literature classes. You will be richer for having read this book.

Editorial Review:

She was a young German Jew.

He was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth.

This is the story of their parallel journey through World War II.

Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck were born just a few miles from each other in the German Rhineland. But their lives took radically different courses: Helen's to the Auschwitz extermination camp; Alfons to a high rank in the Hitler Youth.

While Helen was hiding in Amsterdam, Alfons was a fanatic believer in Hitler's "master race." While she was crammed in a cattle car bound for the death camp Auschwitz, he was a teenage commander of frontline troops, ready to fight and die for the glory of Hitler and the Fatherland. This book tells both of their stories, side-by-side, in an overwhelming account of the nightmare that was WWII. The riveting stories of these two remarkable people must stand as a powerful lesson to us all.

Doomed Queen Anne: A Young Royals Book (Young Royals)

Carolyn Meyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Amazing Queen Anne 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I think that the book, Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer, is a wonderful and amazing book. Doomed Queen Anne is about a teenage girl with some really big dreams. She starts out trying to be better than her older sister, Mary, but ends up getting more than what she ever dreamed of having. Will she ever get the biggest of her dreams? Will live a wonderful life?

-A.N.

Royal Praise for Doomed Queen Anne 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Royal Praise for Doomed Queen Anne

The trite love story of a princess meeting her true prince is not as glamorous as it may seem. Usually, during the 16th century in England, love in a monarchy was significantly complex. Queen Anne, however, showed that with an ambitious attitude, one can achieve anything, even marrying a king. At the young age of 13, Anne declared her future that she will become the queen, which came true. The end of her story as wife to Henry VIII, however, did not conclude as a fantasy tale. Through her tale, author Carolyn Meyer writes with intense emotion in a first person point of view that draws in the readers to the dramatic, interesting, and adventurous rise and fall of Anne Boleyn.
Meyers employs an appealing style that grabs the audience. Her text is mostly informal and simple to simulate the story as a normal conversation or that a story is being casually told. Emotions and Anne's consciousness all play the part, such as when Anne is still engaged in a hot pursuit to marry King Henry: "I lay awake tormented by doubt: Why does he not simply declare himself the head of the Church, dissolve his marriage to Catherine, and marry me- before it's too late? Does he love me ENOUGH?" (Meyers 162-163). She also italicizes words to emphasize Anne's thoughts or emotions, for instance when Anne began to notice King Henry's eyes looking at her: "Time and again the King's roving glance halted and lingered upon me. What can he be thinking?" (Meyers 73). Since the readers become entranced with Anne herself, the plot also develops into a spell-binding story.
The plot that begins with Anne in her pre-teen years to her final death allows the audience to become fully involved in an adventure that so happens to be her life. Despite the change in time, Anne's obsession to lose her stereotype as the "odd" one and a bad reputation remained constant. Ever since youth, here long, black hair, black eyes, and dark clothes made her regarded as a "witch." Her disgraceful relationship with Lord Hal, and a secret marriage, almost ruined her chances of ever catching the king's eyes. Yet, the readers could see that Anne's ambition did not fail her when she was banished from court and told never to see Lord Hal again: "When I was drained of tears, my heart filled with bitterness. Someday I shall have my revenge" (Meyer 61). She eventually proved her family and the nosey ears of the court when she caught the kings heart and eventually manipulated him into having her as his wife, instead of a temporary mistress similar to most of his lovers. This ultimate shocker and revenge made everyone aware that Anne is not the average person but also proved to the readers that her ambition made her win. Once she became queen, one can imagine the sounds of "OHHHHH!!!!" that usually high-schoolers yell out when someone is "burned," in slang terms. Later, unfortunately, Anne's cause for her rise doomed her into her fall because once she couldn't give birth to a son, the tables turned on her. King Henry VIII became influenced to think that she was a which that put a spell on him and that she was having an affair with a musician. Eventually, Anne was beheaded, causing a sense of "wow" at the end.
The journey of Anne's obsession to make the king fall in love with her proved to be hectic and mind-blowing. The connection to the readers permitted the audience to become considerably engaged in her wild ambition. Carolyn Meyers successfully told Anne Boleyn's tale with a technique and plot to capture everyone. Doomed Queen Anne is not the common fairytale princess story, which is why this book is strongly recommended for anyone desiring for a ride.

Editorial Review:

Though born without great beauty, wealth, or title, Anne Boleyn blossomed into a captivating woman. She used her wiles to win the heart of England's most powerful man, King Henry VIII, and to persuade him to defy everyone--including his own wife--to make her his new queen. But Anne's ambition proved to be her fatal flaw.

Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici (Young Royals)

Carolyn Meyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Courtesy of Teens Read Too 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Catherine de'Medici, Duchessina, grows up in a palace in Florence where her family rules the city. When her family falls out of power, she must flee. She becomes imprisoned within the walls of convents for her protection against the angry mob that calls for her death. At the first convent, the nuns make their hatred of her family no secret.

The Duchessina lives in misery, enduring the pain as best she can under the circumstances. Finally, the tides change and her family once again controls not only Florence but the papacy as well. The Pope, her old guardian, calls for her to live in Rome until he can make arrangements for her future.

As one of the richest woman in Europe, the Pope intends to make an advantageous marriage. He marries the Duchessina off to the Dauphin of France. The Dauphin cares little for his new wife and Catherine's misery continues, but she creates advantages to help ease her pain and eventually finds contentment.

A wonderful outlook on the creation of Madame Serpent, remembered in history as the "girl who endured." Carolyn Meyer takes another historical princess and adds strong characters and rich details to spin a delightful tale.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

Editorial Review:

Young Catherine de' Medici is the sole heiress to the entire fortune of the wealthy Medici family. But her life is far from luxurious. After a childhood spent locked away behind the walls of a convent, she joins the household of the pope, where at last she can be united with her true love. But, all too soon, that love is replaced with an engagement to a boy who is cold and aloof. It soon becomes clear that Catherine will need all the cunning she can muster to command the respect she deserves as one of France's most powerful queens.

Includes a family tree.

Patience, Princess Catherine: A Young Royals Book (Young Royals)

Carolyn Meyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book was great! I loved how you saw Catherine and Henry. They were both fun to watch and see how they interacted with each other and with the people around them. It was great to see how much historically accurate information was included. It took me about 20 pages to get into it, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. This is a GREAT book for people of all ages.

Great Series 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Carolyn Meyer once again does a wonderful job in telling the story this time Catherine of Aragon's as she goes from Spain to England marries Arthur and becomes a widow. It truly shows how a lady's life was completely in control in that era as Catherine patiently awaits the next step. She's in a tug of war between her father and Henry VII over her dowry. When the king dies Catherine thinks she's getting her happily ever after by marrying Henry VIII but that isn't to be when she's cast assided for another and heartbroken. She's got a real fighting spirit and very admirable.

Editorial Review:

England anxiously awaits Prince Arthur's betrothed--the Spanish princess who will be its future queen. But when Arthur dies not long after the wedding, Catherine of Aragon's fate becomes uncertain. Will the king and Catherine's parents arrange a marriage with Arthur's brother, Henry, or will she return to Spain a widow? Through all this turmoil, the young princess's resolve remains unshaken: She will one day be England's queen . . . no matter how long it takes.

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

Melanie Rehak

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A plucky “titian-haired” sleuth solved her first mystery in 1930. Eighty million books later, Nancy Drew has survived the Depression, World War II, and the sixties (when she was taken up with a vengeance by women’s libbers) to enter the pantheon of American girlhood. As beloved by girls today as she was by their grandmothers, Nancy Drew has both inspired and reflected the changes in her readers’ lives. Here, in a narrative with all the vivid energy and page-turning pace of Nancy’s adventures, Melanie Rehak solves an enduring literary mystery: Who created Nancy Drew? And how did she go from pulp heroine to icon?

The brainchild of children’s book mogul Edward Stratemeyer, Nancy was brought to life by two women: Mildred Wirt Benson, a pioneering journalist from Iowa, and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, a well-bred wife and mother who took over as CEO after her father died. In this century-spanning story, Rehak traces their roles—and Nancy’s—in forging the modern American woman.

Or Give Me Death: A Novel of Patrick Henry's Family (Great Episodes)

Ann Rinaldi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

So bad it's hilarious! 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Ann Rinaldi's "historical" novel about Patrick Henry's family is an abomination. I suspect that she used Williamsburg ghost tours as the basis for her "research." Every page demonstrates a thorough lack of information and even worse -- a complete contempt for the reader.

On a brighter note, Or Give Me Death is currently being passed around by history teachers and interpreters for a little comic relief. If you have some familiarity with history, this novel is funnier than Captain Billy's Whiz Bang!

Editorial Review:

Patrick Henry, the famous statesman, has a secret: He keeps his wife in the cellar. Slowly losing her mind, Sarah Henry has become a danger to herself and her children. But daughter Anne has a secret of her own: She knows which child will inherit their mother's madness.

Told from the point of view of the Henry children, this compassionate tale explores the possibility that Patrick Henry's immortal cry of "Give me liberty, or give me death," which roused a nation to arms, was first spoken by his wife as she pleaded for her own freedom.

Includes a reader's guide.

Morning Star of the Reformation (Light Line Ser.)

Andy Thomson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

good to read when studing Luther/Reformation 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I recommend this book for students ages 10-13 who are studying Martin Luther and the Reformation. (I actually read it with my 9 year old, who is pretty bright. But I don't think it will hold the attention of most 9 year olds.) The book gives you a real good feel for how it was for the clergy in this time period and the tension that existed, and continued to be a problem, in a revolutionary time period for Christianity. I did not really understand the historical difference between Protestantism and Catholicism until I read this book, which is historical fiction. It is a great supplement to your textbook reading, which doesn't really give you a feel for how things were for individuals entering the clergy and sympathetic to the reformers' cause. I give it 3 stars because it took a little while to get into the story, but it is worth it, and it isn't too long to get through it. It will also explain the important role John Wycliffe played in this time period.

Editorial Review:

When young John of Wycliffe arrives at Oxford University, he finds it a fascinating and perilous place. With his friend, Sebastian Ayleton, John experiences the terrible plague called the "Pestilence" (the Black Death), and he becomes involved in clashes between university factions as well as riots among the townspeople. Whenever he can find time away from his studies, John's favorite place is the inn of the Kicking Pony. There he and his companions discuss the political and religious issues of the day, and it is with his friends that he first shares his growing vision of an English Bible for all Englishmen to read. In the darkness of medieval England, John's pursuit of truth gleams like a solitary star: the morning star that promises the sunrise to come. He paved the way for the theologians of the next century and opened hearts in preparation for the great Reformation itself.

This Vast Land: A Young Man's Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Stephen E. Ambrose

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Renowned historian Stephen Ambrose vividly brings to life Lewis and Clark’s famous westward expedition (1803-1806) through the fictionalized diary of George Shannon--the youngest member of the famous explorers’ team. This Vast Land is filled with colorful examples of life on the trail, (baiting grizzly bears for sport, chasing after stolen horses, etc.), and Ambrose creates a credible teenage character in George Shannon. Shannon starts out as a complete "greenhorn" who must beg and plead with Captain Lewis to take him along. He learns quickly and develops into an accomplished hunter and tracker, but when tempers flare and he gets into a fistfight, he becomes worried: "I fear...I am becoming as wild as this river...this is not right." Shannon matures on the journey, taking an Indian wife, fathering a son, even learning that he is capable of taking human life. At the end of his life, Shannon finds himself offering advice to a young cadet named Robert E. Lee: I learned...never to give up, even when you are lost without your balls." Rifle balls, that is.

This Vast Land was Ambrose’s last book, edited and published by family after his death in 2002. Full of expertly wrought historical detail and earthy humor, the novel is a lively addition to the award-winning writer’s significant body of work . (Ages 13 and older)--Jennifer Hubert