Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef by Marissa Posada

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Justification: I chose this book because there are not a lot of illustrated young adult books. Although this is a biography the illustrations are gorgeous, not just small images of people . I also chose this book because I like learning about the royal families. I have read a different biography on Queen Victoria, but the illustrations did not compare to this one. I'm really excited to see all of the illustrations included with Victoria's biography.

Evaluation: This book has illustrations that establish the setting. It is sometimes hard to keep in focus what is happening the world when reading about kings and queens. The illustrations help keep the reader aware of the time period and setting Queen Victoria was dealing with. The life of Victoria is spent mostly with carriages pulled by horses and the beginning of the industrial revolution. B the time of her death, her son is driving on e of the first cars. All of the illustrations help the reader understand the places and time period Victoria lived through. It also lets the reader see the inside of various palaces she lived in.

This book has illustrations that reinforce the text. Once an important person is mentioned in Victoria's life, a portrait or other illustration is shown and tells the readers a little more about that specific person. Once a significant destination is mentioned, a painting is show of what it looked like. This is very helpful to readers who don't know these places in real life. It helps the reader visualize the places Victoria went to. These illustrations help to tell the story of Queen Victoria's life. it is always a treat to have illustrations accompany a biography.

This book has good examples of dialogue. A lot of the biography is from Victoria's and other's account of events. Through these accounts and records of dialogue, the reader is able to see what kind of person Victoria was when she was alive. The bonus point is that it is not just the public figure, but Victoria's personal thoughts and comments are included as well. Her thoughts on her duty, Prince Albert, and various opinions on Prime Ministers can all show Victoria's personality. It is understood that Victoria was a bit of a brat, but when you are queen who is going to tell you no? It was very enlightening to learn more about Victoria by what she and other actually said.

Response: This relates to me personally because I enjoy European history. I especially like learning about the English royal family's history. My views were not challenged or changed because I had already read another biography of Queen Victoria. Although this account was not as harsh on Lord Melbourne. I loved this book as a work of art. There were many 2 page illustrations of paintings depicting important milestones for Victoria. All of the art was beautiful.

Conclusion: This book had examples of illustrations that established setting, reinforced text and dialogue. I give this book five stars because the art was wonderful. It is not often that a young adult book contains illustrations and this was a welcome choice. I recommend this to anyone curious about Victoria.

APA Citation: Reef, C. (2017). Victoria: Portrait of a queen. New York: Clarion Books.