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Loading... At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian Englandby Walter Dean Myers
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I enjoyed reading about this young African princess. This is a story that adds a unique point of view to that period of history, and is very engaging for a piece of junior non-fiction. (  ) melopher | Jul 13, 2009 |  This book by Walter Dean Myers is the story of a young African girl who was taken from her home after witnessing atrocities and was provided for by Queen Victoria of England in the nineteenth century. Besides being exceptionally well-researched, At Her Majesty's Request is a very interesting read. Sarah Forbes Bonetta's life is so fascinating! I especially like how Walter Dean Myers fills in the gaps between the printed letters between Sarah and her friends and family. At times, he even asks questions about Sarah for his readers. He also provides many pictures and drawings of Sarah and her companions during the period. It made the book feel less like an archive or a history book and more like a story. And despite the fact that this book is about a historical figure, the themes presented in this book are timeless. Sarah grapples with her identity, as she can't stick to calling herself by one name. Her story also shows a concern for family. Both of these themes are integral to the book, and to humanity in general. It's for these reasons that I foresee many older children and young adults picking this book up and not putting it down. (  ) bestwhensimple | May 3, 2009 | This is a very unusual and relatively unknown but important piece of history that takes place just after the ending of slavery. A girl, about to be killed as a sacrifice along with many other people in Africa is seen by an English army officer and rescued by the king giving her to Queen Victoria as a present. On her arrival in Britain she is presented to the Queen who places her with a family and takes an interest in her for the rest of her life, including inviting her to the palace to play with her children as an equal and becoming godmother to her child.The book is short and simply written for children but is unbelievably fascinating and sheds light on British attitudes towards slavery and black people at the end of era where they were no more thought of than as farm animals. The author, who primarily specialises in African-American Young Adult literature - and has won every major prize in this category - also writes in the genre of biography, history and poetry and can be considered one of the 'grand old men' of contemporary American literature. (  ) Savondujour | Jan 30, 2009 | More of a look at British Victorian mores than at Sarah Bonneta. No Princess Cariboo, Sarah was rescued from slavery and romanticized into an acceptable playmate for Queen Victoria's children. I found the writing a bit patronizing for the intended YA audience. (  ) gryphondear | Jan 29, 2009 | Really good book about an African that was brought to England and looked on as a kind of special project by the queen. ( ) autumnesf | May 20, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0590486691, Hardcover)Once there was a little girl--an orphaned African princess--who narrowly escaped death by human sacrifice in a West African village in 1850. A British sea captain named Frederick E. Forbes saved her life by talking King Gezo of Dahomey into giving the girl to Queen Victoria of England as a gift: "She would be a present from the King of the blacks to the Queen of the Whites." As impossible as this tale sounds, it is a true one. Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers--piecing together her story from letters he found in a rare book and ephemera shop in London--paints a hauntingly detached portrait of the small African princess whom the heroic captain named Sarah Forbes Bonetta.We follow her charmed but unlucky life as the Queen's protégée through a succession of British middle-class households, beginning with the Forbes home. Because of her celebrated association and frequent visits with the Queen, Sarah grows up in an unusual position of privilege, education, and celebrity. On the flip side, she is keenly aware that her decisions are not her own, and as a rescued orphan under the Queen's protection, her life's path is dictated by those acting in what they perceive to be her best interests. It is hard not to feel that it was cruel of her protectors to wrench her (more than once in her life) from the adopted family she adores, and eventually to encourage her to marry a West African businessman whom she clearly stated she could never love, and who would take her away from her adopted country. As the epilogue states, "She was both unfortunate in her losses, and fortunate that those losses were not greater.... She seemed to find a measure of comfort wherever she was, but was destined to be apart from the world in which she lived." This story, rich with historic prints, photographs, newspaper clippings, excerpts from Queen Victoria's diary, and Sarah's letters, is both fascinating and tragic. We have Myers to thank for rescuing this fine woman again--this time from the forgotten shelf of a London bookstore. (Ages 11 and older) (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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