This book relays the memoirs of a mouse who lives in the royal palace of Queen Elizabeth I, thereby showing an inner look at the queen’s personal life and her emotions when others aren’t looking.

Written when the author was only 12 years old and inspired in part by Virginia Woolf’s Flush (which tells the story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning through the eyes of her cocker spaniel), this book must be viewed as quite an undertaking. It perhaps helped having a writer/press agent as a mother, but it is still quite a feat for a preteen to accomplish. The writing is actually quite good and if you had not been told, you would assume that the author was an adult. Speaking of adults, the book does have some content which is worrisome for the intended audience of young readers. (At least I assume that the intended audience is roughly 8 to 10 years old, given the short length of the book and the presence of talking mice.) The bulk of Elizabeth’s story concerns her relationship with the Lord of Essex. There are several mentions and one heavily implied scene that depict the sexual nature of that relationship. Later, a beheading is described in some detail. Still, the book was a bestseller when it came out, so perhaps I am the only one who has concerns.

The illustrations, done by another preteen, are delicate and whimsy ink drawings. They don’t necessarily add much to the story, but there are a fine supplement to the book as a whole. I personally got a kick out of the mice dressed up in Elizabethan garb.

Overall, this was a light, entertaining read with enough historical detail to be particularly interesting. However, given my concerns listed above, I am not sure that I would rush out to recommend it to any youngsters in my life. ( )

Picked this up after I found out Ally Sheedy (from Breakfast Club, among others) wrote this when she was twelve! I was interested in knowing what kind of story a twelve year old (Ally Sheedy, no less!!!) would write. Well it turns out to be a very odd, yet interesting book. The framing device is completely unneeded and the plot doesn't actually go anywhere, but it's still a very good book for other reasons. Part of it is that it's a children's book written by a child, and some parts contain things you wouldn't find in other children's books: sex, beheadings, etc. Also Sheedy's mind works in funny ways, and the book is very "fresh". You can tell that Sheedy had been reading a lot about her subject as well as some novels, so it's interesting what kinds of devices and conventions she uses here and which ones she completely ignores. I really enjoyed this book, and I hope she continues to write more. ( )

I don't know about this paperback edition, but I had a lovely tiny hardback with a white cover and the original line art in black. My mother bought this for me and I adored it. Fun fact: the author is Ally Sheedy of Breakfast Club fame and she wrote it when she was 12. ( )