Get Up, Elizabeth!

The Elizabeth of the title is none other than a very young Queen Elizabeth I (still technically a princess in these pages), and any reader who’s been thrust into a stifling party outfit will have built-in empathy as little Bess is roused from her comfy four poster bed and prepped for a big court appearance. Her outfit includes a linen smock and lace-up petticoat, impossibly dangly pinned-on sleeves, and a sewn-on ruff that’s the very definition of “get me outta here.” Told through the voice of an impatient lady’s maid (“And now for your petticoat... /Poppet, stand straight! /Really, Elizabeth, /You’re going to be late!”), Bridges’s (Ruby’s Wish) rhyming text scans coldly officious. Marley’s (The Many Colors of Harpreet Sing) wonderful illustrations, meanwhile, portray Elizabeth as relatably sleepy, stubborn, and resigned—all along sporting a comically magnificent head of completely unruly, radiantly red hair that’s as big as the girl herself. Back matter further describes likely ablutions from the era. Ages 4–7. [em]Illustrator’s agent: James Burns, the Bright Agency. (Sept.) [/em]