(4) 4-6 Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series. Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Though their detective agency has been forbidden from pursuing any more cases, nineteenth-century tweens Ada Byron (Lovelace) and Mary Godwin (Shelley) are enlisted to help Princess Alexandrina Victoria (future Queen Victoria) locate her special book of doll sketches, which has gone missing. The fourth installment once again reimagines history with humor, wit, and good-natured implausibility. Front- and back matter clarify the imagined events and relationships.

Reviewer: Grace Enriquez

(4) 4-6 Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames series. Illustrated by Peter Malone. Profiling some of history's most notorious women rulers, this series employs crisp writing along with an appealing mix of dramatic paintings and photographs (mainly of places and items). The main texts deliver plenty of gory details; most volumes include sidebars highlighting cultural specifics. It's a little all over the place, but the series, with its sharp hook, should appeal to a diverse readership. Review covers these Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames titles: Agrippina, Catherine de' Medici, Cixi, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, and Mary Tudor.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) YA Young Royals series. While this fictionalized first-person account of Elizabeth I's treacherous road to the throne at times veers away from historical accuracy, it provides an engaging introduction to one of history's most compelling figures. This Elizabeth perhaps has more knowledge of behind-the-scenes dealings of court and council than the real Elizabeth was likely to have had, providing readers with necessary background information.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) YA Although obviously sympathetic to Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's oldest daughter, this is an engaging account of Mary's childhood and early adulthood. Long before she ascends the throne, Mary is dismayed by the way her mother is discarded by Henry after failing to produce a male heir. Jealous and bitter, Mary is nevertheless full of determination and strength. The period is well evoked, although the history lesson in this fiction is definitely one-sided.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee