Bard of Avon  •  Diane Stanley  •  Peter Vennema HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 48 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) An illustrated account of William Shakespeare's life and 16th-century England, thoughtfully relating the circumstances of the playwright's environment to the content of his plays. Written for readers ages 6 to 9. (GBR151, $7.99)
Beware, Princess Elizabeth  •  Carolyn Meyer LITERATURE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS An acclaimed young-adult novel, in which Henry VIII is recently dead and young Elizabeth Tudor must endure the tumultuous reigns of her brother Edward and sister Mary -- before ascending the throne herself, 11 years after her father's death. It's a very human portrait of the future queen, set squarely in Tudor England, from an author who has also written a novel about Mary Tudor (GBR333). (GBR332, $6.95)
Coram Boy  •  Jamila Gavin LITERATURE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS Jamila Gavin offers a textured, nuanced, evocative story of the upper and lower classes in England in 1741, concentrating her focus on two 13-year-old boys and their intertwined ambitions. It's a big, ambitious, old-fashioned book about England at the dawn of the industrial age. The word most frequently used to describe this young-adult novel, which won the Whitbread for best children's book of 2001, is "Dickensian" -- in the very best sense. (GBR339, $7.95)
Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor  •  Kathryn Lasky LITERATURE •  1999 •  HARD COVER  • 192 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS One in the clever "Royal Diaries" series by Scholastic, which pairs young-adult authors with famous princesses. Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Tudor's diary, as written by Kathryn Lasky, is full of longing, intrigue and sibling rivalry -- a gripping introduction to the "Virgin Queen." The book is designed to feel like a real princess's diary, with gold-embossed pages and a sturdy binding. (GBR331, $10.95)
England, A True Book  •  Michael Burgan CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  PAPER  • 48 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) An overview of England -- its geography, citizens and history -- for children 6 to 8. With its large color photographs, large-scale maps and focus on kid-friendly topics, this book is an engaging primer. (GBR338, $6.95)
An Episode of Sparrows  •  Rumer Godden LITERATURE •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 256 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A wonderful book by a favorite author, An Episode of Sparrows is set amid the privations and hardships of postwar London. When two poor children "steal" a bit of a defunct churchyard to make a garden, the neighbors get involved for good and ill. As with all Miss Godden's books, this is a tender, emotionally true, utterly unsentimental book and portrait of a place and time, suitable for readers from 10 to 15. (GBR688, $18.95)
Fodor's Around London with Kids, Great Things to Do Together in the City and Beyond  •  Jacqueline Brown GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 160 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A compact colorful guide to London for families by local mom Jacqueline Brown featuring a handpicked selection of 68 terrific attractions that kids will find especially interesting. With games, activities, color photographs, maps and diagrams. (GBR311, $9.95)
King of Shadows  •  Susan Cooper LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 186 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A young actor joins a troupe to travel to London's Globe theatre and finds himself transported back in time to a production directed by none other than Mr. William Shakespeare. Intended for children ages 10-12. (GBR161, $5.99)
London Children's Map  •  Guy Fox Publishing 2008 •  MAP • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) A fully-illustrated, simplified map of Central London, the Guy Fox London Children's Map features over 100 attractions and landmarks --and it comes bundles with a package of stickers and a mini-guide to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. (GBR797, $4.95)
Madeline in London  •  Ludwig Bemelmans LITERATURE •  1977 •  PAPER  • 56 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) Miss Clavel, Madeline and her 11 classmates travel to London to cheer up their former neighbor, Pepito, who had to move away from Paris. With the help of an adopted horse, the group embarks on a mad, rhyming tale of adventure through the city's busy streets. Written for kids ages 4-8. (GBR152, $17.99)
Mary, Bloody Mary  •  Carolyn Meyer LITERATURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS An unusually generous protrayal of the young Mary Tudor, nicknamed "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant subjects. Popular young-adult author Meyer richly recreates the Tudor era and its religious conflicts for audiences ages 11 and up. (GBR333, $6.99)
Peter Pan, A Classic Collectible Pop-Up  •  Robert Sabuda  •  Matthew Reinhart LITERATURE •  2008 •  HARD COVER  • 14 PAGES • FAMILY Wizard of paper engineering, Sabudo transforms M. Barrie's classic's tale into an astonishing world of movement and dimension. Each double-page spread of London at night (with clouds floating by) or the jolly roger (in all its colorful 3-D glory) is festooned with doors, windows and booklets. (GBR804, $29.99)
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver  •  E.L. Konigsburg LITERATURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 208 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS A marvelous fictionalized portrait of Eleanor of Aquitaine who was queen of France and England successively, traveler to Constantinople, wife of a future saint, mother of Richard the Lionheart and for 15 years a prisoner of the English Crown. E.L. Konigsburg's irreverent, feminist, educational young-adult novel begins on a cloud in heaven, where Eleanor is awaiting the induction into heaven of her husband Henry II of England, who has spent the last 800 years in -- well -- not in heaven, at any rate. The rest of the book is a flashback. (GBR245, $5.99)
Thames Doesn't Rhyme with James  •  Paula Danziger LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 183 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS This upbeat young-adult novel sees Kendra, her brother O.K. and teen heartthrob Frank Lee set loose on a scavenger hunt during a family vacation in London. The hunt not-coincidentally takes the kids to nearly all of London's monuments. (GBR334, $4.99)
This is London  •  Miroslav Sasek CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) A classic portrait of London for children. First published in 1958, this is a facsimile edition of Sasek's charming original. The tube, Piccadilly Circus and other famed attractions are depicted with bright, stylized illustrations. Ages 4-8. (GBR529, $17.95)