Special Collections
The Royal Diaries Series
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Anacaona, Golden Flower
by Edwidge DanticatThe New York Times–bestselling author and National Book Award finalist delivers a powerful Royal Diaries volume with the story of Haiti’s heroic queen.With her signature narrative grace, Edwidge Danticat brings Haiti’s beautiful queen Anacaona to life. Queen Anacaona was the wife of one of her island’s rulers, and a composer of songs and poems, making her popular among her people. Haiti was relatively quiet until the Spanish conquistadors discovered the island and began to settle there in 1492.The Spaniards treated the natives very cruelly, and when the natives revolted, the Spanish governor of Haiti ordered the arrests of several native nobles, including Anacaona, who was eventually captured and executed, to the horror of her people.“A gripping story that shows European invasion from a native Caribbean viewpoint . . . readers will connect with Danticat’s immediate, poetic language, Anacaona’s finely drawn growing pains, and the powerful, graphic story that adds a vital perspective to the literature about Columbus and European expansion in the Americas.” —Booklist“Explores the life of a proud, young Taíno woman as she grows into rulership, love, and motherhood . . . The arrival of Columbus’s explorers marks a major turning point in the novel, and Danticat shifts from a languid, poetic style to a tense, high gear that makes it difficult to put the book down.” —Historical Novel Society
Elisabeth
by Barry DenenbergThe whirlwind that is the life of Princess Elisabeth of Austria is explored. A free and impetuous spirit, Elisabeth was chosen at the tender age of 15 (over her older sister) to be the wife of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria.
Catherine
by Kristiana GregoryIn this final installment of the Royal Diaries series, drama and intrigue explode during the incredible journey of a 14-year-old Prussian princess named Sophia, who is renamed Catherine when she marries the nephew of Russian Empress Elizabeth.
Sondok
by Sheri HolmanDuring the seventh century in the land which is now Korea, 14-year-old Sondok is the eldest daughter of King Chinp-yong, ruler of Silla. It is an era of political and religious intrigue for this princess living in a tumultuous time.
Lady of Palenque
by Anna KirwanThe bestselling author transports readers to the ancient Mayan realm of Bacal, where the 13-year-old daughter of King Hanaab Pacal embarks on a gripping and pivotal journey.
Kazunomiya
by Kathryn LaskyIntrigue and danger increase as Princess Kazunomiya's once-sheltered life in 19th-century Japan changes in this latest addition to the Royal Diaries series by a Newberry Honor-winning author. Illustrations.
Marie Antoinette
by Kathryn LaskyNewbery Honor author Kathryn Lasky's MARIE ANTOINETTE is back in print with a gorgeous new package! To forge an incredibly powerful political alliance, thirteen-year-old Marie Antoinette of Austria is betrothed to Dauphin Louis Auguste, who will one day be the king of France. To prepare her for this awesome responsibility, she must be trained to write, read, speak French, dress, act . . . even breathe. Things become more difficult for her when she is separated from her family and sent to the court of Versailles to meet her future husband. Opinionated and headstrong Marie Antoinette must find a way to fit in at the royal court, and get along with her fiancé. The future of Austria and France falls upon her shoulders. But as she lives a luxurious life inside the palace gates, out on the streets the people of France face hunger and poverty. Through the pages of her diary, Marie captures the isolation, the lavish parties and gowns, her struggle to find her place, and the years leading up her ascendance of the throne . . . and a revolution.
Mary, Queen of Scots
by Kathryn LaskyOnly nine months old when she's crowned Queen of Scots, Mary is sent to live in France until she is old enough for marriage and the throne. While there, Mary excels at dance, music, poetry, and horsemanship.
Nzingha
by Patricia C. MckissackPresents the diary of thirteen-year-old Nzingha, a sixteenth-century West African princess who loves to hunt and hopes to lead her kingdom one day against the invasion of the Portuguese slave traders.
Anastasia
by Carolyn MeyerThirteen-year-old Anastasia is the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II, ruler of Russia. Anastasia is used to a life of luxury; her major concerns are how to get out of her detested schoolwork to play in the snow, go ice-skating, or have picnics. She wears diamonds and rubies, and every morning her mother tells her which matching outfit she and her three sisters shall wear that day. It's a fairy tale life -- until everything changes with the outbreak of war between Russia and Germany. As Russia enters WWI, hunger and poverty grows among the peasants, and soon they are not pleased with their ruler. While the czar is trying win a war and save their country, the country is turning on the royal family. When her father and the rest of the family are imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, suddenly Anastasia understands what this war is costing the people. In the pages of her diary, Anastasia chronicles the wealth and luxury of her royal days, as well as the fall from power, and her uncertain fate.
Isabel
by Carolyn MeyerWhile waiting anxiously for others to choose a husband for her, Isabel, the future Queen of Spain, keeps a diary account of her life as a member of the royal family
Kristina
by Carolyn MeyerMeyer offers a revealing look at Kristina, who was raised by the King and Queen of Sweden as a prince rather than a princess and assumed the throne as King at the age of 18.
Weetamoo
by Patricia Clark SmithIn her first book for The Royal Diaries, Patricia Clark Smith introduces the teenage Weetamoo, who will succeed her father to become chief of the Pocassets in seventeenth-century New England.
Kaiulani
by Ellen Emerson WhiteMay 6, 1889
At Iolani Palace, Father and I met with Papa Moi and Mama Moi in the throne room. Papa Moi was solemn as he reminded me that it will be my responsibility to do as well as possible, and in that way, further the hopes of our nation. I was glad that I have never admitted to him how fearful I am about leaving. I think he would find that petty, as I go off not for myself, but for all of the Hawaiians I will someday lead.
"I will not fail, Papa, will I?" I asked Father, once we were in our carriage and on the way back to Ainahau.
"It is not even a possibility", he said, his voice full of confidence.
