Product Description

Rhymed verses, stunning illustrations, and a fascinating text all come together to form this imaginative story about Queen Elizabeth and her progresses, or journeys, through England's countryside. Ibatoulline's illustrations are not only beautiful colorful works of art, they also tell a story within a story-one about the attempted murder of the queen and about her loyal servants who seek revenge. The main text follows Elizabeth's travels and is filled with anecdotes and historical details.

Perfect for history-lovers, alert readers, and suspense-seekers, this multi-layered picture book reveals something new with each reading.

Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #920083 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-26
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-7-Set against the backdrop of the queen's annual "royal progress," this sumptuous picture book details the common occurrences that the monarch, her courtiers, and servants faced each summer as they roamed the English countryside-a time of relaxation for the queen but one of constant vigilance for her staff. Each letter of the alphabet gives a tidbit of information through a four-line rhyme, expounded on in an accompanying paragraph of prose text. While rhymes for two of the letters are quite forced, most are well penned. Some are light and fanciful, while others have a more serious tone. Unfamiliar vocabulary may challenge some students ("turncoats," "bevy," "gambols"), but the narrative is so interesting that they are not likely to be deterred by it. Ibatoulline's acrylic paintings are superb in their elegance and fascinating in their detail. Elizabeth's ornate gowns and her courtly accoutrements are delightfully offset by her servants' plain garb and earnest expressions, and there are many humorous touches. Large letters are rendered in fancy script and decorated in a gold scroll motif. This book could be used as an introduction to Elizabethan history, or it could serve as a model for creating alphabet books based on historical time periods. A plus for any collection.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 2-4. This alphabetically arranged, large-format picture book has a prose text that informs children about Queen Elizabeth I's annual royal progresses through England with her entourage. Meanwhile, a separate text keyed to the alphabet and in rhymed couplets (and larger type) dramatizes a particular summer progress in which a young kitchen maid helps foil a plan to assassinate the queen. If that seems a heavy load for a picture book, even one for older children, it is, but those with a taste for Elizabethan history and handsome illustrations evoking the period should find it intriguing. Ibatoulline excels at painting ornate Elizabethan fabrics and clothing in exquisite detail, so her series of richly colored, narrative paintings extend the text in an entertaining way. The alphabet element is simply a construct, but the jacket flap copy seems to reveal its origin: Mannis says that she had written more than 1,000 pages of a historical novel when she was advised to turn it into a picture book. This is it. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Publishers Weekly
Erudite and absorbing. . . .

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, Lucious, Clever....Buy It!!!
This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever purchased for my daughter! Rich illustrations with clever rhymes and additional text make this a fun but educational adventure with Queen Elizabeth as she goes on "progress" and visits her subjects. Definitely a Caldecott contender!! I have also purchased Celeste Davidson Mannis's other book: "One Leaf Rides The Wind" and was expecting nothing less than excellence (and I was not disappointed).

A published rough draft
Great idea. Bring the Elizabethan period closer by linking it with an alphabet book and factoids that interest children.

Lovely illustrations.

Now the bad part. Embarrassingly lazy rhymes, from the Moody Blues school of songwriting.

G is for garden,
And in it a maze.
Through a tangle of hedgerows
The queen makes her way

(You could have said, To be lost there for days, Making several ways, With their heads in a daze--so many real rhymes would have worked.)

Unfortunately, many of the "rhymes" are like that. They are awkward but could have easily been made right. The meter is also not quite right, which is too bad, because this has so much to offer.

The book would have worked better without the poems, because the pictures and the historical notes are so good.

God Save the Queen!
British history nuts will get a kick out of this book. Fun for all ages! My kids love following the adventures of the little dog that appears on almost every page, and soaking up all the incredible detail that Ibatoulline crammed into his exquisite illustrations. There's a lot going on - a visual feast fit for a...Queen! As a certified Anglophile, I'm fascinated by the narrative at the bottom of each page, and the sometimes sassy, sometimes whimsical verse that moves along the 'story within a story'. Very unusual, very good! God Save the Queen!