A Girl for All Time – Matilda
When I was little, I started collecting dolls to play with and do their hair. I have an Australian Girl Doll, American Girl Doll, Petitcollin Doll, A Journey Girl and, recently for Christmas, I got Matilda – a Girl for all Time Doll.
Something I really like about A Girl for all Time Dolls is that they are actually based on real people! Matilda was a real person who lived in the Tudor times and was cousins with Katherine Howard, who was the fifth wife of Henry VIII.
Matilda also came with a book about her called Matilda’s Secret. It is written as though Matilda is writing in her journal. The story starts with her being a shy, poor girl who has to sew all day and, in her spare time could ride her horse around the country and she would sit in her pear tree and write her journal. But then one morning, her Uncle comes and takes her to court to see if she can make Katherine marry Henry VIII, who at this time was King. Matilda is sent on an adventure to court, where she becomes best friends with Katherine. But then something horrible happens which makes Henry VIII furious and they go to The Tower of London!
I found that I was the right age to read the book but it was quite gruesome towards the end and if you don’t like gory things, you may not like the ending of this book. It also had lots of detail about what life was really like back then, which can be a good thing and a bad thing.
Age recommendation: 11+
Rating: I am going to give this book a 4/5 because it was a interesting, detailed book and it is different to the books I normally read. I found it was a bit gruesome at times and it doesn’t really have a happy ending. I got a bit confused with Katherine Howard’s age. In the book she’s 15 when she marries Henry VIII, but other facts say that she was 17 when she married him!
SheriBerri
SheriBerri 