Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England [Hardcover]

Kenneth C. Davis (Author), S. D. Schindler (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Don't Know Much About

What was so great about Alfred the Great?
Who did Queen Elizabeth I love most of all?
What is King Henry VIII famous for having six of?

Long live the Queen! How would you like to be a king or queen of England? Would you enjoy wearing a crown and having subjects bow at your feet? Here's your chance to see if the royal life is really what you imagined. Discover the ruler's changing role in making laws and protecting England. Learn which king brought leopards and a camel to the Tower of London and which queen burned three hundred people at the stake. Read about the battles of daring knights and what it was like to live in dark, drafty -- and smelly -- castles.

Best-selling author Kenneth C. Davis gives readers the royal treatment with his trademark question-and-answer format. S. D. Schindler's detailed artwork captures the rich flavor of noble life, while the inviting design makes it exciting to learn about the crowned kings and queens across the ocean.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do you know which British queen ruled for 63 years? Who the first royal bookworm was? Which king brought lions and camels and polar bears (oh my!) to London? If you don't know much about the kings and queens of England, salvation is here! This regal entry in Kenneth C. Davis's Don't Know Much About series explores the amazing real lives (and some of the made-up stories) of two dozen of the most interesting members of the British monarchy over the last thousand years. In keeping with other titles in the popular series, Davis uses a lively question-and-answer format, along with illustrator S.D. Schindler's humorous artwork, to introduce readers to the sometimes bizarre world of royalty, right up to present day, when young prince and heir to the throne William wears an electronic tracking bracelet to keep him in constant contact with palace security (apparently Harry can run around untracked). A complete chronological listing of all the kings and queens of England concludes the book. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7 Davis applies a tongue-in-cheek approach in this broad overview of English history. Writing for the totally uninformed, the author answers two to seven questions on the life and times of each of 20-plus monarchs, occasionally revealing only obscure incidents or facts in the royals' lives. For example, for Edward I, the two questions asked are: "How Did King Edward I get his nickname, Longshanks?" and "Was Edward a 'Lucky Duck?'" Much of King Henry VIII's section features information on his wives, ending with a rhyme to help students remember their fates: "Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived." Illustrated sidebars provide additional facts. Youngsters will enjoy Davis's sense of fun, but there is some oversimplification. The colorful cartoon drawings, like the text, are often humorous and/or poke fun at the historical figures. While teachers and students might use these interesting facts to humanize the historical personages, the book is best for browsing enjoyment. -Barbara Buckley, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (May 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060286113
• ISBN-13: 978-0060286118
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ken Davis is the author of Don't Know Much About History, which spent 35 consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and gave rise to the Don't Know Much About series, which has a combined in-print total of 4.3-million copies.Ken Davis has been dubbed The King of Knowing by Amazon.com because he becomes a subject expert in all of the areas he writes about; the Bible, Mythology, the Universe, the Civil War, for example. Ken has also been a Wise Man; on Who Wants to be a SuperMillionaire and a Life Line on the regular edition of the show. Ken Davis's success aptly makes the case that Americans don't hate history, just the dull version they slept through in class. But many of them want to know now because their kids are asking them questions they can't answer. Davis's approach is to refresh us on the subjects we should have learned in school. He does it by busting myths, setting the record straight and always remembering that fun is not a four-word letter word. A somewhat well-kept secret: Ken Davis never graduated from college, but he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Concordia College in Bronxville, where he was also asked to give a commencement address. Ken Davis is a frequent media guest. He has appeared on hundreds of television and radio shows, including NPR, The Today Show, Fox and Friends, CNN, and The Discovery Channel. He has been a commentator for All Things Considered, and has written for the New York Times. In addition to his adult titles, he writes the Don't Know Much About Children's series published by HarperCollins. He lives in New York with his wife. They have two grown children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disjointed, disappointed, August 5, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England (Hardcover)

I wanted a book to share with my 5th grader, to give an overview of the English monarchy and a feeling for the scope and sweep of British history. Instead, this book gives only a rather disjointed look at a small selection of monarchs, and does not manage to connect people and events in any kind of meaningful timeline. I didn't expect in-depth analysis, but was definitely disappointed with the isolated, and rather fuzzy, snapshots of history that this book presents.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful book, July 17, 2008

By 

book family (MN, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England (Hardcover)

This was a very helpful book as I was teaching history to my 6th grader. It helped me clarify these folks in my brain.

I don't know if there is more than one version but the other reviewers confuse me. My book has dates for each monarch, as well as a timeline in the back.

I wanted to mention that this is a "children's" book, with lots of illustrations, and about the size of a medium-large picture book. It is *not* like some of the other "Don't Know Much" books for older grades & adults (although this adult liked it). And it is not worth hundreds of dollars LOL!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History, Trivia, Facts, and Fun....., October 22, 2002

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England (Hardcover)

Do you know which king wasn't a king, refused the crown, and called himself Lord Protector? Who was England's first properly crowned queen, not just the king's wife? Which queen served the longest, 63 years, and what was so good about "Good Queen Anne?" Why did George V change his last name to Windsor? And when Edward IV died, what happened to the princes in the Tower of London? Find the answers to these and many, many other intriguing questions in Kenneth Davis' Don't Know Much About The Kings & Queens Of England. Written in an easy to read, question and answer format, and complemented by S D Schindler's playful and humorous artwork, Mr Davis fills his book with fascinating history, engaging fun facts, and entertaining trivia about twenty-four of England's most interesting kings and queens, and the times in which they lived. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, this is the latest entry in Mr Davis' marvelous Don't Know Much About series, and as he tells the reader in his introduction, "...this one proves that real history about real people is a lot more fun than a bunch of simple dates and facts. And the true stories of some of the most famous monarchs of England are much more fascinating than you'd ever imagine."