May. 7, 2008 - Book Review -- Elizabeth 1 of Royal Princess Diaries series
Book Review
Elizabeth I of the Royal Princess Diaries series
The reason I put this book on my Spring Reading Thing list is very simple. I needed to pre-read at least one of the books in this series before letting my daughter devour the whole series! At first, I was just letting her read them, but after she read her first and starting asking us questions about the Muslim faith; my husband and I decided pre-reading was in order.
The concept behind Royal Princess Diaries is captivating for any young girl dreaming of being a princess! Each diary is a fictional account of a princess during her growing up years, and is of a noteable princess, such as those who became Queens in their own country or married a King in another country. The diary of Elizabeth I ends before she becomes Queen, and has a post scrip explaining how that came to be.
First, I would like to mention that I learned a ton by reading this book. Fiction is woven together so interestingly with fact that may historical facts are absorbed! Remember Elizabeth the Ist? She was the daughter of the Mad Henry who executed five of his six wives by having them beheaded!!! Elizabeth was third in line of succcession to the throne, and only became queen after each of her two siblings in front of her (a younger brother and an older sister) died while serving as monarch.
Second, I will mention that I found the fictional diary of her childhood and teen years to be captivating and fun to read, even though I am 35 years old.
However, (you knew a however was coming didn't you!) I did have problems with letting my nine year old read this book.
First, this book dealt often with Elizabeth's reaction to her own mother's beheading, the beheading of the other queens, and the fear that the current queen would be beheaded. Since this is a recurring theme, the overall effect is very dark.
Second, this book dealt some with Elizabeth's depression, which is not a proven historical fact.
Third, (and most significant) was a scene which occured about 3/4 of the way into the book. Elizabeth along with all of the other young royal children, attend a costume celebration for some Holiday. This happened several times in the book, and I can't remember which time this particular event occured. At any rate, two of the ladies arrived dressed as scantily clad Harem members for kings in the East. Elizabeth was startled to nearly bump into one of the ladies, exiting a room near "the privy" with a gentleman of note (not her husband...) and clearly disheveled. A few minutes later, Elizabeth also notices that the other "lady" dissappears out into the courtyard for lengths of time with one man after another. She states "There is something going on here that I do not quite understand. I almost think I understand, but not quite. So, I am not going to tell Kat about it..." (Kat is her governess)
Later in the next entry, Elizabeth mentioned that her father (King Henry) made a bauldy comment about one of these women and Elizabeth's step-mother was not happy. Even later in the story, one of the "ladies" contracts small pox and is "ruined".
I am positive I do not want my nine year old daughter to read about that scene! She definitely does not need to know about court prostitutes and the exploitation of women yet! I know the book was fairly vague, but not vague enough to stop questions. I thought about letting Clara read the book; by simply taping something over that page and telling her she must not read that entry. I know she would obey me for the privilege of reading the book; but it would only raise questions. Plus, if I let her continue in the series I would have to read each book and that would become difficult!
The last thing I struggled with was an overall concept of feminism in the book. Since most of what happened in the book was very realistic, I would probably not have denied my daughter this book or the series except for the one scene mentioned above. I could easily have discussed the concept of feminism with her; and let her read the book.
So much rich historical detail is included that I am tempted to let her read the book in spite of my review! Too bad the author felt compelled to include this one scene.
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