The Actor, The Rebel, And The Wrinkled Queen

Terry Deary's Tudor Tales #3

by Terry Deary

A young actor at the Globe Theatre must defend his master when Queen Elizabeth suspects that Shakespeare tried to help the Earl of Essex overthrow her.

Genres: Fiction, Historical, Childrens, Tudor Period

64 pages, Library Binding

First published June 30, 2003

About the author

A former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.

A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.

The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.

Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great end to a great series - 4*

I'm definitely reading these in order.
I also enjoyed this one and I really enjoy the twists and turns.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Of all these short stories that I read from Terry Deary, I enjoyed this one the most. Of course, it had the Globe and Shakespeare, so it wasn't that hard. Interesting for children and adults alike, but clearly aimed at children.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! A fantastic quick read of historical fiction based on a real rebellious conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I by one of her most adored confidants, and possibly William Shakespeare?? Heads will roll for this treason!

[Ngaio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the story is relatively compelling and Deary has structured it well. On the other, it's chock full of historical mistakes. I know it's historical fiction, but it smacks of lazy writing research. Some of these details could have easily been corrected without impacting the story at all. At the same time, the details do not overly impact the story and it's unlikely someone in the target range will pick up on them.

I give it 1 and a half stars. It was okay, but the errors were so distracting. I felt like they did their audience a disservice. The true story is compelling, just get it right.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

269 - 2015