Royal Diaries: Elisabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor (Royal Diaries)

by Kathryn Lasky

[Veronica 🦦]

EDIT:

After reconsideration, I'm upping this to a 4.0/5. What was it that caused me to reconsider? I read two other additions to this series and quite frankly, reading those made me appreciate this book even more. Lasky has this ability to not only capture a young Elizabeth's thoughts but also make her feel so human and much more tangible. Compared to [b:Elisabeth of Austria: The Princess Bride|20324590|Elisabeth of Austria The Princess Bride (The Royal Diaries)|Barry Denenberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388187307s/20324590.jpg|23279] and [b:Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile - 57 B.C.|440116|Cleopatra VII Daughter of the Nile - 57 B.C. (Royal Diaries #2)|Kristiana Gregory|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328773860s/440116.jpg|379243], Lasky's Elizabeth feels like someone you could be friends with because she felt real. Although history was tossed in, it didn't feel forced. It didn't feel like I was reading a bad encyclopedia entry. This book feels like reading Elizabeth's diary.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Not going to lie, I only decided to read this because I was utterly bored, didn't want to read the other books I had on my list, and found my copies of this series (so I will be reading a few others). So I thought -- why the hell not? I've always thought that this series is a great way to introduce kids to these historical figures and (hopefully) get them interested in history.

This is a children's book, so reading it now as an adult is a different experience than if I was to read this as an 8 to 13-year-old girl. Knowing what I know about Elizabeth, about Anne, about Henry, and about the Tudors in general, this is a pretty decent introduction to Elizabeth for kids. I thought that Kathryn Lasky did a decent enough job capturing a young Elizabeth's thoughts -- from her longing for her father's love and approval to worrying about her future and her dislike of marriage. Also, just the little snippets into Tudor life was great because it felt real. The way she added in things like taking baths and the process (and the fact that these people didn't bathe for weeks on end); or even mentions of the rats -- it brought a sense of realism (if that makes any sort of sense). The details into typical Tudor life made this book even more interesting. You can tell Lasky did her research -- not just into Elizabeth herself, but also the time period.

I will say, though, that I flipflopped between 3 or 4 stars before finally settling in on 4. It SHOULD be 3.75/5.0, but this website doesn't allow half or partial stars so it's rounded up.

I can't deny that -- for a kid -- this book and Elizabeth's story would be interesting. If I was still a kid, this would pull me into wanting to read more about Elizabeth. However, it gets points deducted from it due to the pacing. It can be slow at times.

I personally think that this author lost out by not starting the diary in 1541 while Catherine Howard was still Queen. This is absolutely a nitpick, I know, but it might have been more interesting than starting from after Katherine Parr was already a queen.

Overall, the book is just right. As of this date (14 Aug 2018), I haven't read the other books in the series but once I read others, maybe I'll rank which one is the best in terms of writing and history.