TBT No. 1: Carolyn Meyer's Young Royals Series

Earlier this week I mentioned that I wanted to do some Throwback Thursday posts to highlight some of my favorite books from the past. 

And since it's AUGUST, the month millions of kids are going back to school, I decided to honor that by focusing on books I read during my middle-school years. 

I'm starting off with one of my favorites and the series that planted my love for historical fiction and the Tudors. 

      

The Young Royals Series (#1-3) by Carolyn Meyer

There's actually 7 books in this series, the most recent published in 2012. As far as I remember, I only read these three sometime in 6th or 7th grade. 

Meyer's Young Royals series tells the stories of the young lives of famous monarchs.

In Mary, Bloody Mary we get Queen Mary I's teenage years: from watching her father carry on an affair with Anne Boyleyn, to her marriage prospects being used as political pawns, being declared a bastard, and taking care of her baby half-sister Elizabeth.

Beware, Princess Elizabeth follows the future Queen Elizabeth I through her teenage years including learning of her mother's beheading, being locked up in The Tower by her jealous half-sister Mary, and rising up to be queen.

Doomed, Queen Anne tells the ambitious story of Anne Boleyn and her rise to being the king's mistress, then queen and the events that led up to her death.

I remember enjoying these books as a kid and being inspired to research more about the Tudors and British monarchy. The writing is simple and the plot easy to understand. They are written in first-person narrative, so it made it easier to relate to the characters, almost as if she was sitting in front of me telling me these stories. 

I think middle-school really is the right time to read these because they are so simple. They don't have a lot of historical depth or any of the sexy intrigue from more adult historical fiction. It's enough to get kids interested and that's what I loved about them. 

I don't think I could read them now that I'm in my 20s.


** If you click on the pictures, it'll take you to Goodreads for a more detailed summary.