Customer Reviews

The Queen's Progress

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

Celest Davidson Mannis and Bagram Ibatoulline combine the genres of alphabet books and historical picture books and take both to new heights.

Each page presents a different letter, with the ornate, scrolly letter taking up most of the page. Clever quatrains about the featured letter are accompanied by a small chunk of text that further explains the significance of what's been described in the quatrain -- for example, X is for xanthus, and though the brief rhymed poem explains what a xanthus is, the prose at the bottom of the page offers historical information that justifies its inclusion in the book.

The illustrations are exquisite. I've been a fan of Ibatoulline's work for some time now, and the pictures in this book are period-perfect, with colors that bring to mind an illuminated manuscript.

It's also fun to go through each picture and try to find the page, the maid, and the dwarf who play important parts in the adventure story that is skillfully woven into the poems and prose.

This book works on so many different levels, older children and adults will find much to learn and enjoy here.

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).