Narrative books about Elizabeth I and Stuarts for 8-10 year old girl

[ireadbooks]

I've been reading books to my daughter about the Tudors and she is obsessed. We have read so far:

1. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Dominic Sandbrook - this is not fiction but it is quite story like.
2. Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley - historical fiction about Mary Tudor as a child, and a great imagining of the experience of her mother's divorce and death, and of no longer being a princess.
3. My Royal Story by Kathryn Lasky: Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I - fun and interesting portraits of Tudor life, with lots of interesting details about day-to-day stuff like clothes and food. But not that much historical narrative and not hugely broad (only focused on one year).
4. The Queen's Spies (My Story) by Valerie Wilding - really great historical fiction about the plot by Sir Anthony Babington to replace Elizabeth I with Mary Queen of Scots

I would love it if we could find a book to read about Elizabeth I that focused on the main events during the reign - her personal relationships, the politics with France/Scotland and Spain, the explosion of culture.

Also I am desperate to find a book starting at the end of the Tudors and the beginning of the Stuart reign - the uncertainty of not having an heir, the factional fighting over succession and ultimately ending in the death of Lady Jane Grey. And then hopefully what it was like under the Stuarts from the balancing act that James I had between Catholicism and Protestantism, through the English Civil War and ultimately up to the Glorious Revolution.

I really want these books to be:

1. Suitable for children - not necessarily for children but at least not with long sections about torture methods.
2. Books that can be read out loud - not necessarily fiction, we loved Dominic Sandbrook, but at least telling a story, rather than the DK Eyewitness Tudors type book (some of which we have and she reads on her own).
3. Fun!

I have spent a long time searching and I am really struggling. If anyone has any recommendations I would be really grateful.

Not quite what you're looking for but "Cue for Treason" (Geoffrey Trease) and "The Player's Boy" and "The Players and the Rebels" (Antonia forest) are both set round Shakespeare and very good stories. My ds loved them at that age.

Thanks! I think Cue for Treason looks great. The other two sound very interesting but I can't seem to find them in any library in London or on Amazon!

When I was that age, I loved The Young Elizabeth by Jean Plaidy.

It was old then (and I'm only just passed 30) but was written for young readers and for all its fiction it's history is pretty sound.

Bit hard to come by copies but I think I saw it on Amazon recently, you can also try Book Depository, and I may have even seen it as a ebook.

Also, have you not got the Horrible Histories books?

Not quite the exact time period but my DD really enjoyed A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley at that age. Based around the Babington Plot to bring down Elizabeth I, a girl keeps time travelling to interact with the characters.

I was going to suggest this. I read it at 10/11, and was obsessed!

Thanks so much for these replies. We read one of the My Story books about the Babington Plot so I wasn't sure we needed another but the reviews of the Alison Uttley book look so good I am going to get it.

Re the Horrible Histories - I really don't get on with them. Maybe we are both particularly sensitive but I don't understand the need to include as many gruesome details as possible. Obviously getting the rack was unpleasant but I don't need to read about it thanks.

I think The Young Elizabeth by Jean Plaidy looks exactly like what I am looking for though! Doesn't seem to be in print but looks like there are cheap second hand copies online and I've just bought one! Thanks - looking forward to reading it.

I realised recently that I learned all my history from Jean Plaidy - she is wonderful. And as I read more "real" history as an adult I realise she got most of her stuff very right.

If your dd likes her, there is medieval, Plantagenet, Guelph, Spanish, etc Jean Plaidys out there. The one about Isabella and Ferdinand (Mary Tudor's grandparents) was great.

So true, I think. I only read the one book of hers but have recently downloaded a couple of others as ebooks. But I went to study the 16th and 17th centuries extensively at postgraduate level and she was pretty spot on with her writing (unlike some historical fiction novelists I could mention)

In case you were considering it- Innocent Traitor. by Alison Weir, which is a great historical fiction novel about Lady Jane Grey, is not suitable for this age group- there’s graphic sex!

Thanks for these - I am excited to read Jean Plaidy now. Will stay away from Alison Weir - as a book to to read to children at least!

Oh yes that's true. Her novels aren't age appropriate.

As an historian though she's pretty damn good, so read her non fiction freely :)

The Lady Grace Mysteries
Cynthia Hartnett books

Another vote for Cue for Treason.

Susan Cooper has a time slip novel which is quite similar in feel (child actors in Shakespeare’s company) - King of Shadows.

Another vote here for

Jean Plaidy The Young Elizabeth
and also The Young Mary Queen of Scots

You can get them on Ebay.

If your dd will be okay with the plague, Jill Paton Walsh’s novel about Eyam, ‘A Parcel of Patterns’ is interesting.

For a rather lovely, child’s eye view of the period, try The Armourer’s House by Rosemary Sutcliff, which follows 7 year old Tamsyn as she moves to Tudor London to live with her cousins. It’s a little old fashioned in style now, but full of lovely details and a beautiful Christmas chapter. Lots about Tudor ships.

I read the two Jean Plaidy novels which have been suggested, when I was around 10. I also enjoyed “The Prince and the Pauper”, Mark Twain at about the same age.

Thanks for all these responses.

I accidentally bought Queen of this Realm by Jean Plaidy, which is quite the tome. I think it might be aimed at teenagers but I'm looking forward to reading it. I have now ordered The Young Elizabeth.

I am reading A Traveller in Time out loud and we are loving it - fab suggestion, thanks.

I'm also reading Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir to myself. It's great fun but the scenes narrated by the four year old Lady Jane Gray are a bit ludicrous.

I make my way giddily behind the guests and curtsy to her, praying she will not notice my burning cheeks or discover my transgression.

I'm prepared to accept that Elizabeth was a precocious child but this is pushing it a little.

You could try search 'Tudors', then use the filters or search in search (eg 'Elizabeth') thebookseekers.com/book-search/?q=tudors