Book Review: Victoria

When I was studying for my undergraduate and graduate degrees, my primary focus of interest was on Britain in the Victorian era. At one point, I even hoped to write a dissertation on the problem and treatment of orphans during that time. Dickens was my favorite writer and Victorian England my favorite period. But, it has been a while since I devoted any amount of time or energy to those topics. This book was a welcome introduction back into the things that captured my attention most in my twenties.

Victoria: Portrait of a Queen, is a tween biography by Catherine Reef. The pictures accompanying the text will surely bring the time period and the queen to life in the minds of youthful readers. I found myself imagining what it must have been like for Victoria to wake, a few months after her eighteenth birthday, and find that she was the queen of such a vast, grand empire. Although matters of politics and national identity might be a stretch for some young readers to grasp, the vibrant illustrations help to bring the story of Victoria's life into focus. I enjoyed perusing the family tree provided at the end of the book. I would highly recommend this book to homeschooling families and young readers fascinated by British royalty.