Good Queen Bess

Author:Peter Vennema
Illustrator: Diane Stanley
Pub: 2001ISBN 0-688-17961-4, $16.99
Author website http://dianestanley.com/
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/19721/Peter_Vennema/index.aspx
Annotation:
The Good Queen Bess is a simple yet detailed depiction of Queen Elizabeth's strength and power during a patriarchal time in England.

Personal reaction: I enjoyed the simplicity of a subject I tend to yawn at, British history and royalty. The illustration have a proper Renaissance feel to them, fitting for the time of Shakespeare. The book also describes the power of a woman during a time women were thought to not be worthy of power. The book also touches upon battles of religion, politics of marriage and rolls of kings and queens of the time and the influence religion had on their rule.

curricular connections California State Standards 7th grade:
7.9 Students analyze the historical developments of the Reformation.
           3. Explain Protestants’ new practices of church self-government and the influence of
         those practices on the development of democratic practices and ideas of federalism.

        4. Identify and locate the European regions that remained Catholic and those that be­
        came Protestant and explain how the division affected the distribution of religions in
       the New World.
Core Collection
Located in Oakland Public Library, Dimond Branch, children's Biography section