Diana: The People's Princess (Library Binding)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5?Since Diana's death, numerous biographies have been written about her. This one is particularly useful for this age range. Chapters are short?each covers a double-page spread. Large, colorful, well-captioned photographs abound. Trivia is offered up in colorful sideboxes throughout the text. Starting with her birth, the book gives evidence that the princess led a sad, if charmed, life. The author does take some liberties?Diana's feelings are mentioned ("she felt abandoned and helpless") without citing sources. The book is pro-Diana to a fault, even showing a captioned picture of her "winning" a school race, when other sources claim she came in second. A superfluous glossary and useful list for further reading are appended. A chronology includes an entry for 1990 stating that Diana was "photographed looking sad and lonely while in India." Didn't anything more significant happen that year? Throughout, the princess's concern for humanity shines through. Marc Cerasini's Diana (Random, 1997) offers much of the same information for a slightly older crowd. Select Wood's book wherever there is interest.?Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-7. Princess Diana led an indisputably privileged life, viewed by many as a romantic, modern-day fairy tale. But as Wood shows, Diana's life was filled with challenges, joys, and traumas, some ordinary, some extraordinary. Her parents divorced when she was young; growing up she was much like any other kid--she liked horses, she didn't like school, and she often got into trouble. Young readers may be surprised to learn that after leaving school, Diana worked as a waitress, housecleaner, and nanny before becoming a nursery school teacher--but her marriage to Prince Charles changed all that. She chose to use her fame and wealth as a means to call attention to, and financially support, real world problems, such as AIDS, leprosy, and homelessness. Wood explains in simple terms Diana's struggles and shows how her fairy-tale life went hand in hand with a very different reality. Lots of color photos and sidebars giving bits of personal information help make this biography an attention-holder. Bibliography, glossary, time line. Shelle Rosenfeld

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Library Binding
• Publisher: Heinemann Library (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817239987
• ISBN-13: 978-0817239985
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,262,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is written for the young, but all ages will enjoy., November 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Diana: The People's Princess (Paperback)

This is a delightful and charming story of Diana which begins with the Spencer family. Diana was born into an aristocratic family; however, she was thirteen years of age when she became Lady Diana.

Diana loved her father deelpy and was upset when he married Raine, his second wife in 1976. At age nine, Diana's father sent her to boarding school. On holiday from school, it was not unusual for the younger royal children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, to visit the Spencers and use their private simming pool. In Diana's own words, "I loved being at school. I was very naughty in the sense of always wanting to muck about rather sit tight looking at the four walls of the schoolroom."

This book takes one from Diana's early years, school years, her royal romance and engagement, the fairy-tale wedding, the Shy-Di era through her various roles - working princess, motherhood, hier hidden pain and suffering, her years with the press, the breakdown of her marriage, going public with her marriage problems, her work with aids, cancer, landmines, her work with street people, her work with leprosy, and her tragic death.

Of all these many roles, Diana relished the role of Motherhood the most. She resented the time she had to be separated from her children for any length of time.

Diana's friend, Rosa Monckton, once stated in an England newspaper, "Diana had huge courage, and whenever things got too much for her she would say to herself: 'Diana, remember you're a Spencer' ( she was far prouder of this than being royal), and she would then get on with whatever she had to do." Page 35.

Each short role is told in words and accompanied by beautiful colored pictures on each. Diana had admired Mother Teresa for a long time. The last time they met was in New York City in June of l997. Diana and Mother Teresa were different, yet when they met in Calcutta, India, they shared a common love of poor and outcast people. Mother Teresa once told Diana, "To heal other people you have to suffer yourself." When Mother Teresa was told of Diana's death, she described Diana as "a very great friend who was in love with the poor." page 39.

Unfortunately, Mother Teresa died the day before Princess Diana's funeral services, and the world lost two outstanding ladies within one week.

When Diana was in Bosnia, Lord Deedes said, "One boy took off his boots to show what his feet looked like. But he didn't have any feet left. Diana picked him up in her arms. There were no photographers there. She was not showing off. It was a genuine impulse ... instinctive," P. 41

There is a glossary of terms on P. 46 to help the youngster who might not know the meanings of some terminology which is used.

A beautiful story of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, which is written in such a manner that all people can read and enjoy.

This refers to the paperback edition. 48 pages. 81/2"x101/2"