   | Victoria : portrait of a queen Author: Reef, Catherine | |
| Price: $23.78 | ||
Summary:
A biography for teens on Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Her long reign was filled with drama, death, intrigue, and passion, and took place during a time of great transformation, an era that bears the imprint of her personality and values as well as that of her name--the Victorian period.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG+ Reading Level: 7.60 Points: 7.0 Quiz: 500353 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 6-8 Reading Level: 9.20 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 70977 | |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (09/01/17)
School Library Journal (09/01/17)
Booklist (09/15/17)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/11/17)
The Hornbook (00/01/18)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 09/01/2017 Gr 6 Up—This intimate portrait of Queen Victoria simultaneously provides a panorama of the 19th century's great cultural, political, and technological upheaval. Victoria's life is novelistic in scope, and Reef deftly integrates primary sources. Speaking through her diaries and letters, the young Victoria engages readers in her passionate struggle for self-determination. As an older queen, her stormy opposition to the reforming Prime Minister Gladstone provides ample drama. Balancing Victoria's voice, her family, prime ministers, and the British public, Reef offers myriad, often dissenting, perspectives. While the queen embodied middle-class domesticity, Reef reminds readers that she also oversaw the British Empire. A prime example is Victoria's balancing of her eldest son's education and the outbreak of the Crimean War. The plentiful lush images track both Victoria's Britain and changing artistic technologies and styles, from satirical Regency cartoons to family photographs. The appendices include a précis of the limits of monarchical power, a family tree, and a list of British rulers. Fact-seekers can navigate the extensive back matter with much success. VERDICT For history buffs and fans of historical fiction, this biography allows readers to immerse themselves in 19th-century voices and aesthetics.—Katherine Magyarody, Texas A&M University, College Station - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 09/15/2017 Royalty seems to have a perpetual hold on young readers’ imaginations, and this biography brings the young nineteenth-century queen to the forefront. First, it skims her childhood in a palace, coronation, and fairy tale wedding before going beyond those highlights to shed light on Victoria’s long-lived importance at a time when England and its empire were rapidly changing amid spectacular technological advances. If the conditions of Her Majesty’s rule recalls that of great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II’s reign, it won’t be lost on those absorbing Reef’s beautifully produced book. Full of color portraits, period engravings, and fascinating photographs of the queen, her consort, and her progeny, this endeavor is made to pore over again and again. Victoria’s personality is at the forefront and humanizes the bio. She is by turns hot-tempered and fair, hardworking yet emotional. Back matter includes a family tree that leads to newest royals George and Charlotte, as well as extensive notes. Anglophiles and history lovers should definitely enjoy this. - Copyright 2017 Booklist.
