Alison PrinceRecensioni

Alison Prince has done a really good job with this book. The story is well written and captures life in Tudor times well. The images and timelines featured after the diary enhance the educational benefits too. Any young person who is finding history boring should grap a copy of the My Story diaries and may be plesantly suprised.

I really enjoyed this book. Having worked with children in various capacities for many years I find reading young people books a great was to engage with them. These days I think there is a greater crossover between books written for young people and adults (Rowling and Pullman are further examples of this)

This book leads on from 'My Tudor Queen' which is the diary of Elinor's mother Eva and Queen Katherine of Aragon. Although of course there wasn't the depth that you would find in a Philippa Gregory novel (which is of course written for the adult market) you do get a sense of the times and how difficult life was for everyone with such a fickle King on the throne.

"Sextonåriga Kerry, som bor på en liten ö utanför Skottland, håller oron för sin sjuka mamma hemlig för alla hon känner. Hon kan inte ens prata om det med sin pappa. Men så lär hon känna den jämnårige Paul, som dyker upp som turist på ön, och han får Kerry att erkänna det hon innerst inne alltid har vetat om …"

Elinor Valjean is a young girl in the court of Henry VIII serving Katherine of Aragon and then Anne Boleyn. She sees the drama unfold as Henry wants Anne for his wife, her rise and then fall.

This was a wondeful little read from The My Story collection. I think it's a great way for children to learn about history. Although it is a book aimed at the younger person as an adult I enjoyed it.

Elinor tells what she sees over a decade or so watching the goings on around her. In the meantime she grows up, gets married and has children. Along side Anne Boleyn whose marriage is not happy and she can't give Henry the family he wants, where as Elinor has a happy marriage.

This story is a quick read about Anne Boleyn and covers all the main points. Elinor has a chatty narrative and she doesn't like Anne Boleyn, with her version making Anne guilty where as some accounts Anne is innocent.

I really enjoyed this quick read and will read more of the My Story collection.

This is a great story about the infamous Anne Boleyn as told in diary form by her lady-in-waiting, Elinor Valjean. Elinor starts writing in her diary when she is only eleven years old and Anne Boleyn has just caught the eye of King Henry VIII. It ends eleven years later when Anne is beheaded. Simply written, easy to read and with wonderful historical detail, this story gives a great insight into the life of the Tudors. Looking forward to reading more books in this series.

A quick and easy read - not great but a still very informative look at the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn throughout the eyes of a young servant girl

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

It's not very common to read a historical piece about the Tudors without having to be subjected to yet another tale of Henry's man-whoredom. This is a wonderful, fictional account of before Henry's reign and during his early years as monarch. Court life isn't portrayed too well (it's possibly realistic, but it really takes a backseat to everything else), but politics at the royal level was.½

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

Prince manages to pack a lot of historical information into this novel in the form of a diary. Elinor, the narrator, a minstrel (and daughter of a court jester) who entertains Anne Boleyn but who dislikes her considerably is rather too modern a girl to be quite believed. Nevertheless, the book does make the details of Henry's court accessible if not quite compelling. Recommended for girls 13+.

Laat ze maar praten verscheen in Nederland in 1980 bij Querido, een jaar na de publicatie van het boek in Engeland. De eerste dertig bladzijden doen vermoeden dat het om een typisch probleemboek uit de jaren '70 gaat: Kate heeft een verhouding met de oudere kunstenaar Laurie, maar die is terug naar zijn vrouw omdat ze aan leukemie lijdt. De moeder van Kate is een actrice die meer aandacht heeft voor haar carrière dan voor haar dochter, haar vader is jaren geleden naar Australië geëmigreerd en daar hertrouwd. En Kate is ook nog zwanger. Ze weet helemaal niet wat ze wil met haar leven. Haar moeder begint over haar tante Beth, die op het platteland woont.

Zodra Kate daar aankomt, komt het verhaal wat tot rust en verandert de toon. Het leven op het platteland is heel anders dan in het drukke Londen. Haar tante heeft haar handen vol aan haar boerderij en praat niet zoveel. Kate gaat haar helpen en leert vanalles over het landleven. Ook leert ze de knappe buurjongen Alec kennen.

De indruk die het boek in het begin geeft is bedrieglijk. Na de eerste pagina's gaat het boek meer over de innerlijke strijd van Kate dan over alle problemen. Beetje bij beetje ontdekt ze wat ze met haar leven wil gaan doen. Maar ook wordt ze verrast door dingen die buiten haar om gebeuren.

Hoewel het boek al een kwart eeuw oud is en hier en daar misschien een tikje gedateerd (mobiele telefoons en internet bestonden nog niet, een ongetrouwde tienermoeder is tegenwoordig ook weer niet zo bijzonder) blijft het een leuk boek voor meisjes vanaf een jaar of 14. Het mag in mijn boekenkast blijven staan.(uit: Jipjip, een weblog over kinderboeken, door Richard)

This story, written in diary format, gives an insight into what it must have been like to live in the household of Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII. Residing in a strange land and subject to the whims of a King, life could not have been easy for Catherine and her household.
This is a great way for kids to learn about history. The main story is followed by a timeline and some pictures from the period. Worth getting for your tweens.

This book is one in the My Story series. The books in this series are fictional diaries of young girls living during different periods of British, Scottish, and Irish history.

Sixteen-year-old Eva De Puebla comes to England in 1581 as lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon, the Spanish princess who is to marry Prince Arthur, heir to the throne of England. Eva has been chosen to accompany Catherine because she is her close childhood friend. But as the years go by, although the girls remain friends, their lives grow far apart. Arthur dies not long after the marriage, and though Catherine is eventually able to marry the younger brother and new heir, Henry, their marriage becomes strained as Catherine fails to produce a living child. Meanwhile, Eva has found happiness in love and marriage and having a child, but mourns for her dear friend's lost dreams.

This book is written in the form of Eva's diary from 1501-1513. I loved this book, especially since I really enjoy reading about this time period, but I did have one complaint. Since the book covered such a long period of time, I feel it could have been at least fifty pages longer. I still recommend it to young readers and teens who enjoy fictional historical diaries.½

"In spite of blackouts, rationing and air raids, everyday life goes on as usual for village children in the early years of the Second World War. But rumours about the Liepmanns, a strange couple living in an isolated house on the Commons, cause events to take a dramatic turn..." It's exciting for children to pretend and play that their neighbours are something scary but when there is national hysteria about The Enemy and Spy Danger, the effects in real life can become serious.

What happens when a Dad steps off the train to have a smoke and misses getting back on, leaving his two children alone to complete the journey without him. And the situation is made worse when the grandmother who was supposed to meet them at the station at the end of the journey isn't there? Instead of staying put like his little sister Helen wants to, Dan meets up with some homeless kids and goes to their squat, and this looks like turning into one huge mistake.

Deb's biker boyfriend likes to live - and drive - dangerously. She's hooked on the thrill of speed - but how long before her luck runs out? This is a gritty drama.
(Review from amazon.co.uk)

15 year old Antigone (Tig) cannot forgive her stepfather Phillip for having her beloved cat Jacoby put down, even though Phillip is now dead. Enraged and frustrated by her mother’s grief, and her best friend’s compassion, she decides to ride her bike to her grandmother’s house. On the way, a black cat runs across in front of her, causing her to crash into a bus. As she slips into a coma, Jacoby appears and asks her to play a game with him. This game involves going back in time to work out how Tig and her various female relatives have coped with hardship. There is a problem as Tig is enjoying the game so much, there’s a danger she will never return.
p.71-75 Tig dreams she is her grandmother in an air raid shelter when the bombs fall very close