About book Victoria: May Blossom Of Britannia, England, 1829 (2001)
This time around in my reading of The Royal Diaries series (one of my absolute favourite childhood series, though I never managed to read ALL of them when I was a kid), the focus is on Queen Victoria from England. I am really interested in Queen Victoria, but it’s hard to find historical fiction on her (I only know of two novels that are about Queen Victoria, including this one). There are lots of books that take place in the Victorian Era, but very few where Queen Victoria is the main character … sad!This book is about Victoria when she was 9 to 10 years old. The book centers around her childhood and her relationships to the various people in her lives. In particular, she is fond of the king of her time, George IV, who she calls Uncle King. She doesn’t have the strongest relationship with her mother, but does love her; unfortunately she is under the influence of John Conroy, her mother’s comptroller, who also is hoping to rule over Victoria (through her mother). For unbeknownst to Victoria, Uncle King’s heir (his brother) is most likely unable to have children with his wife, making Victoria, their niece, very likely to become Queen of England one day.One thing that stood out to me in this Royal Diaries installment is that the writing actually feels more authentic to its time period than others. I mean, I understand some of the Royal Diaries are going to have a difficult time making the writing seem authentic to the time period when the princess writing it isn’t even supposed to know English. But some of the other Royal Diaries do take place in European countries and none of them had writing that felt as “real” as this one.Like most of the other Royal Diaries books, this book is also mainly concerned with the day to day life of little Victoria in 1800′s England. Maybe that would be more interesting to a child reading this book (which I realize is its intended age group); I thought it was just okay. I wouldn’t say I’m really knowledgeable in what life was like in 1800′s England, but I probably know more than a child reading this book, so probably the educational portion of this novel would be much more fascinating to a kid. This book has not much action, I’m afraid. Towards the end, it gets a little more exciting (though I use that word in the relative sense) when Victoria begins to piece together how the inheritance of the throne of England is going … and her shock when she realizes it could be her, though she tries to brush it off at first.All in all, it was a solid read with both pros and cons. I’m just glad to read something on Queen Victoria, there should be more his-fics on her life!
Even for a princess in The Royal Diaries, Victoria is quite young when she’s ‘writing’ this book, at only 10 years old. Maybe it’s because I’m a cynical old reader, but even for ten years old she was, quite simply put, an annoying brat. Part of it was her immaturity and the other part was the annoying quirks Anna Kirwan used to make her ‘unique’.In this portrayal of the future Queen Victoria, Anna Kirwan has made her quite ignorant of her station, immature and an incredibly annoying writer. You see, sometimes Victoria speaks in the language you would expect of the times and in the same entry you might see language you would use in an email to a friend. I don’t know why Kirwan decided to do this, but she makes Victoria use the arcane form of ‘choose’ (‘chuse’) without using any other arcane language. This, of course, doesn’t make it authentic so much as it makes it annoying. The most annoying personality quirk used was Victoria’s habit of using ‘v.’ as an abbreviation of ‘very’. So we end up with a character who uses words that are ten letters long, but abbreviates a four letter word. Writers take note: this is not quirky; it’s annoying.When you have a book written in diary form, a good narrator is an absolute must because you can’t escape from their point of view. Therefore, Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia was bad overall. I’m sure with a better narrator I would have been more focused on the historical events than on translating v., but that was not the case. As far as I can tell, this book is mostly accurate, but Anna Kirwan admits to changing a few things around in her Historical Note.I give this book 1.5/5 stars, rounded up to 2 stars for Goodreads rating purposes.
Do You like book Victoria: May Blossom Of Britannia, England, 1829 (2001)?
"This book was not given to me, nor did I buy it with my own pocket money." The book in question is a pilfered farm stock notebook that the future Queen Victoria of England uses to record her thoughts as a young girl. "Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia" is author Anna Kirwan's contribution to Scholastic's "The Royal Diaries" series and is written in diary or journal form. I have a keen interest in England's royal families and this book was an interesting glimpse into Victoria's early life as she chafed under the interfering control of Captain John Conroy. As I read, I constructed my own family tree to try to keep track of all the royal relatives, and was happy to see an official one at the end of the book. I'm not sure that my interest would be shared by this series' target audience though, middle grade girls. The maneuvering and manipulations that were a common part of aristocratic life, and a main focus of the book, are certainly a part of our American politics, but not on a family level. Kirwan opens a little window for us on court life in England in 1829 and, while faithful to the obligation of the series, might have left behind many young readers.
—Katharine Ott
Victoria, May Blossom / 0-439-21598-6Looking back over the Royal Diary series, "Victoria" is another solid addition to the group, although, like many of the European princesses, there is a lot here that's been seen and done before. But Victoria is an interesting, if sometimes slightly prim, young woman - and it is gratifying to see her attempting to live her own life and record her own thoughts, even as she is surrounded by those who would use her.Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who fit into that description. Victoria's mother comes across in the novel as being abhorrently selfish and weak - relying completely on the advice of an abusive manservant who lives with the family, manages their affairs, and emotionally terrorizes Victoria and her mother. Although she does not know it, Victoria is next in line for the throne, and her mother spends much of the novel plotting to try to increase her yearly allowance from the government, and sniveling that the sickly king isn't generous enough towards Victoria. Victoria handles all this with good grace, but she is torn between trying to be an obedient daughter and her understanding that her mother's behavior is not helpful or appropriate much of the time.If "Victoria" has any failings, it is perhaps that as a European princess, there is much here that you've already read before, if you're a long time fan of the Royal Diary series. When I first read "Victoria", I was new to the series and would have given it 5 stars, but having read the whole series and come back to "Victoria" again, it feels less exciting somehow. Still, I would heartily recommend this book to children and adults alike, especially as an interesting and speculative look into the heart of this important historical queen.~ Ana Mardoll
—Ana Mardoll
**Historical Fictions Novel**I remember in middle school reading one of the Royal Diaries for Cleopatra and loving it. I do not know why I never read the rest of the books in this line. The Victoria book gives wonderful insight to the world of Queen Victoria in her younger life. I love these books because it gives a relatable character to a famous woman in history. Having diary entries for brave, strong, women in history is really cool. Preteen and teenage girls will love these books and be able to relate to royal women from different time periods and different parts of the world. Victoria's diary is wonderfully done, the facts all line up and are accurate. I think it is neat to feel relatable to a royal woman and to be going through similar things. I have already purchased two of the Royal Diaries books for my future classroom, I will be obtaining more over the years. I adore these books, Victoria being one I will not forget. I love that the author, Anna Kirwan, includes a family tree in this specific book. All of the Royal Diaries books include pictures and extra elements at the end of the story. I give Victoria five crowns out of five.
—Rebecca Boliard
