Fantastic for history buffs! ( )

I don't remember much of these books as individual books, but I remember reading them all as a young, avid reader. I think that ultimately these books are the reason why I love historical fiction novels so much. They all did such a great job of taking me to a different time and place and making it come alive, seeing the world through an older, historical lens. I highly recommend any of the Dear America books to younger readers who love history and need to get hooked on reading!

This was a reread for me. I believe I originally read this book sometime during middle school and I remembered that I really liked it. I read a bunch of the Dear America and Royal Diaries books but I would always get them from my school library. Now I’m going to try to buy the ones I liked so I can relive my childhood.

Reading this now as an adult is such a different experience, but I still enjoyed it.

The author did an amazing job imagining what a young Elizabeth I would be like. There was a nice blend of innocence and tragedy to her character.

I also really liked the little tidbits about life at court, like how often they took baths (spoiler alert: it’s not very often).

Overall, this is a great middle grade book for kids who want to learn more about Elizabeth I. ( )

Suitable for the target demographic (teen girls). Although, so far as I can tell, the historical events are accurate, and the author has not taken a noticeably anachronistic viewpoint, nonetheless this is a fictional work that attempts to tell Elizabeth's story in the first person, which necessarily involves supposition and interpolation of knowledge she might not have had at the time.
I am not a fan of "diary novels", as too much outside information is lost or improbably shoe-horned in, but this one is okay. ( )

Audio was terrible quality, enjoyed it more when I read the book; but my daughter seemed to be enjoying listening to it ( )