Skip to main content

Daughter of the White Rose

Image
By
By Diane Zahler
New York: Holiday House, 2021. Fiction. 246 pgs.

12-year-old Nell Gould is born a commoner in London in 1426, in the midst of England's Wars of the Roses. Nell, the daughter of the royal butcher, is born on the same day as Prince Edward -- called Ned -- the future King of England, and the two grow up as close friends and companions. When Ned is sent away from London to learn to become King, Nell decides to pursue an education so that she may write letters to her friend. Years later, Ned's father King Edward IV dies and Ned's uncle, scheming to become King Richard III, imprisons Ned and his younger brother Dickon in the Tower of London with Nell and her younger brother as company. This fictionalized telling of a historical story builds to a tragic ending.

Readers who know their English history will be familiar with the tragic story of the princes in the Tower and will see the ending coming: the princes are murdered by their scheming uncle, desperate to become King. Zahler's ending considers historical accounts of the "reappearance" of Dickon years later, and places Nell, a fictional character, as the major agent in aiding his escape and survival. Nell is a wholly worthy heroine, filled with determination, intelligence, and grit. Fans of Karen Cushman, Carolyn Meyer, or Jane Yolen's historical fiction will find a lot to like in this quick-paced novel.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Painting for Peace in Ferguson

By
Painting for Peace in Ferguson By Carol Swartout Klein Treehouse Publishing Group, 2015. Nonfiction. When the city of Ferguson was overrun with so much hate and despair that homes and businesses had to be boarded up to protect property, citizens of the community decided to bring a message of hope by painting the boarded windows. Klein’s rhyming text supports the photographs of the hundreds of artists and volunteers and their artwork as they bring the messages of peace, hope, love, and that by being united they can make a difference. A great book to show children how a community rallied to make a positive change and that even a small gesture can make a huge difference. A great discussion opener on how we should treat each other.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Bletchley Riddle

By
  The Bletchley Riddle By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Fiction. 392 pages. It's spring of 1940, Hitler has swept through most of Europe, and people believe England will be next. Half Polish-Jewish, half American Jakob has been recruited from Cambridge to Bletchley Park where they are working on deciphering the enigma machine. Jakob's sister Lizzie, meanwhile, is being forced to move from London to Cleveland to live with her grandmother after her mother disappeared in a 1939 attack in Poland. Lizzie manages to escape the keeper her grandmother sent for her to bring her to America and makes her way to Bletchley, where she's eventually given the task of delivering messages between departments. When secret messages begin appearing with Lizzie's belongings, she must decipher them to find the truth about her mother's past and location, while keeping the secrets away from the MI5 agent that seems a little t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dragon Run

By
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...
1 comment
Read more