Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I

Take a look at the cover of this book for just a moment. Just a single solitary moment. Maybe the last thing you want to do is read a young adult biography on England's greatest queen, and I can understand where you're coming from. But take a good long look at the image presented on the cover here. This portrait of Queen Elizabeth was fashioned in her time and is commonly referred to as The Rainbow Portrait. It is, to my mind, the most flattering painting ever made of the ruler and it hasn't been touched since she posed for it. When you first look at it, it seems pretty standard. There she is with the high forehead (considered attractive at the time), the bright curly red hair, and the ostentatious finery. In fact, let's take a closer look at that finery. If you look carefully you cannot help but notice that her gown is covered in ears and eyes. You heard me right. Honest to goodness ears and eyes are all over this thing! You don't notice it at first, but once you've seen it you can never forget it. Such is the case with Thomas's book itself. It may not look like much at first, but once you take even a glance at the text you immediately become transfixed by the lives of Elizabeth, her crazy family, suitors, and enemies. Elizabeth was born the second child of the (in the words of the great comic Eddie Izzard) "big fat hairy king", Henry VIII. Fond of killing off his wives when they either displeased him or couldn't produce male heirs, Elizabeth was the daughter of the soon-to-be beheaded Anne Boleyn. Her life was touch and go from the start. One minute she was treated as a prized pet and the next she was sent to royal grounds far from court. What followed soon after was a series of deaths and accessions to the throne. When Henry VIII died he was followed by Elizabeth's little half-bro Edward VI. When Eddie died he was followed by the Lady Jane Grey (for nine days). After she was tossed out came Elizabeth's older half-sis Mary (Bloody Mary to you commoners). Finally, Mary kicked it and Elizabeth rose to the throne. She was only 25 or 26 at the time and extraordinarily canny in the choices she made. Refusing to marry (and thereby give up her ruling power) Elizabeth remained sexy and single. Over the course of her life she dealt with assassination attempts, the continual threat of Mary Queen of Scots, an invasion of England by the Spanish Armada, excommunication, and all sorts of fun stuff. The result? Elizabeth remains perhaps the best remembered Queen of them all, making her an excellent subject of bios and bio-pics. I'm easily bored. If I pick up a children's book that won a Newbery Award pre-1950 to read, you'll probably find me curled up in a corner fast asleep in five minutes time. Non-fiction is therefore one of the banes of my existence and I heap large helpings of praise onto any author that can make a realistic subject even halfway interesting. Not being familiar with Jane Resh Thomas, I was understandably ne

If you are interested in learning more about Elizabeth I, start with this book. While it is true that it targets an adolescent audience, it clears up much confusion and muddled facts surrounding the Virgin Queen's life. The story is presented in a clear, straightforward fashion and is an easy read (which DOES NOT mean that it is not worth reading!). I have read many biographies of "Good Queen Bess" and this remains one of my favorites.

The San Francisco reader ignored the fact when he bought it that this book was published for young people "10 up" and for adults who don't have degrees in British history and who want basic information. Now he complains because because of its "lack of sophistication" and "reading level". My son and his friends, sophisticated black teenaged boys, love this book for giving history and historical figures some humanity. Now he's reading all he can find about the Renaissance times and people. Ilearned a lot from it too, enough to make sense of the recent movies about Queen Elizabeth the first.

Ms. Thomas did a wonderful job in creating this book about Elizabeth I. I found this book to be incredibly helpful when creating a report. It had me wish I knew this thoughtful and insightful queen. I felt I was in the time period because it had information and facts where other biographers made speculations and mere guesses. In other books, I felt as if the author had not even researched it at all. I would recommend this book to anyone, not just as a resource but also as a free read.

Give Behind the Mask:The Life of Queen Elizabeth I by Jane Resh Thomas to every young person you know. Give it to the older folk as well but especially young people who are threatened nearly every day with History as dead skin cells and dates when it should be what Ms. Thomas has given us--a life. Ms. Thomas delivers us to the England of Henry VIII, where baby girl Elizabeth is born, where neither mother, father, sister, brother, teacher, nor priest is to be trusted. The author leads us through the early years of Elizabeth's life, her lessons in poetry, penmanship, intrigue, and suspicion, and lands us in Elizabethan England with a very clear understanding of why the Queen is who she is and why she does what she does. The pictures are lush. The captions are even better, inviting the reader to look again at the paintings and their details, and again and perhaps a tenth time, to uncover the personalities and mysteries within the frames.Best of all, Thomas shows us that history, although it is non-fiction, is not the truth. Every historian has a point of view, a way of looking at events, a reason it matters. Without this, history is merely lists of dates and possibly accurate facts. Obviously, telling the story of Elizabeth I mattered to Ms. Thomas. And I think we, the readers, matter to her as well for she has given us a chance to love history.