This book, Isabel: Taking Wing, was written by Annie Dalton. It was set in the Elizabethan age in London, in the year 1592. It is the first of the five books in the series Girls of Many Lands, which tells about girls in history, how they are alike and different from girls today.

Isabel: Taking Wing has about 180 pages and 12 chapters. Though the book was hard to get into at first, it became very exciting after the first few chapters. In addition to the story, the author put a section in the back of the book that tells what the women wore, as well as historical facts and pictures about Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare's theater. This book comes with a colorful Isabel bookmark where you can keep your place in the book.

This book has a very colorful picture of Isabel on the front, but no pictures while you are reading the story. I don't like that about the book. But I do like how the author wrote the book in first person, where you can feel what Isabel felt. She really described Isabel's thoughts and dreams in an exciting, fun to read way. I love the way the author filled this book with happy, sad and exciting times that Isabel experienced in her life.

Isabel is a 12-year-old girl growing up in a wealthy house in London. The author tells how Isabel grows tired of endless chores to prepare her for being a lady. So she sneaks out to see a Shakespeare play, but she is found out and banished to live at her aunt's house in the countryside. On the way there she is attacked by thieves. They leave her unharmed, but lost and alone. She then joins a band of actors, disguised as a boy, and finally gets a taste of the freedom she longs for. But it is not the freedom she imagined it to be. By the end of the book, though, she is reunited with her family, and discovers what freedom really means.

This book has many historical details, as well as good humor. It tells how women were expected to run the household and men to earn the money, like trading overseas that was Isabel's father's job. As Isabel bluntly put it, "Women must stay indoors, sewing stitches so fine that no one will ever see them. Our work is only visible if we do it badly. But men's work is very visible if you do it wisely." Isabel also says, "Girls must always be good and stay at home. But when you are a boy the world can be your home."

Isabel longs for adventure, and finds it in this book, and you will too!

is an excellent book! Isabel Campion has always dreamed of avventure. When her sister gets engaged, Isabel has to learn all about the house-hold responsibilities. She finds it a bore, so she asks one of her servants to take her to the playhouse. They steal Meg's(her servants)uncle's boat. Isabel is enchanted and instantly falls in love.On her way back, the boat get a hole, and Megs uncle saves them. Isabel is in big trouble. The punishment is to live with her aunt. Isabel packs her things and finally her aunts servant arrives to bring Isabel to her aunts home. On the way, Isabel is robbed and her aunts servant is killed. Isabel finds Megs brother and the rest of the people from the play. She disguises herself as a boy and even acts in some of the plays. When she arrives at her aunts house, everyone was glad to see her alive. She learn which plants heal certain sicknesses. One day, a letter arrives from her married sister telling Isabel that therir little sister has fallen ill with the plague. Isabel comes home and saves the day. I recommend it to all girls 9 and up.

While I have not read any of the other books from the Girls of Many Lands series, I really enjoyed Isabel: Taking Wing. The story begins on Christmas Eve. Isabel lives with her father, sisters Sabine and Hope, Aunt Elinor, and a few servants. She befriends Meg, a maid who is around Isabel's own age. Meg's brother, Kit, works at a playhouse, and Isabel's dream is to become an actor. One day, when Isabel persuades Meg to let her visit the playhouse, both return very late and Isabel is banished by her father to live with Aunt de Vere. While on the journey to Aunt de Vere's house, Isabel's companion, Aunt de Vere's servant, is killed and the horses are stolen. Isabel happens to meet up with Kit and his journeying troupe. She pretends she is a boy and acts in plays until the group gets to Aunt de Vere's house in three weeks. When Isabel finally reaches her aunt's house, the two of them come to love each other and have many things in common. Will Isabel's family ever forgive her and welcome her into their home again? Read this great story and find out.

the starlight princess combines magical embroidered
pictures with extremely well adapted tales- mostly well-known stories, but with the odd variation which makes
them more suited to modern readers. For example, in
' the princess and the pea ', the prince doesn't just marry
the princess, he finds out first whether she likes him too.
My five-year-old and I are thoroughly enjoying it -great to read aloud.

As a young child, one of my teachers taught us the basics of embroidery. I still have the tiny apron I made as a child and ended up framing it because I wanted to keep it safe. You will want to read this book and then keep it in a safe place too!

In "The Starlight Princess" the story is illustrated completely with embroidery. Belinda Downes is a world-renowned embroidery artist and you will want to also find "A Stitch in Rhyme" and "Every Little Angel's Handbook." She has always loved history and costume design and was very excited to illustrate this book and uses luxuriant fabrics and different threads and stitches. This is not cross stitch! The pages look like calico fabric.

To say I am impressed with this book is an understatement. I am fascinated with the embroidery, all the delicate details woven through the pages, framing the story with exquisite detail.

As a little girl I dreamed of being a princess. One time, I had my brother help me put two mattresses up on my bed and we put a pea under the bed to see if I could feel it. Since I couldn't, we declared that I must be a princess indeed. lol

Well, that story is actually in this collection of eight fairy tales and is the first story. The Frog Princess, King Grizzlebeard, The Starlight Princess, The Sleeping Beauty, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Egg Prince and White-Bear-King Valemon are included in this collection.

Annie Dalton's storytelling brings meaning to the embroidery. She also brings such humor to some of the stories.

"There was once a princess so beautiful that any prince who saw her portrait instantly became desperate to marry her. Unfortunately, as soon as they actually met her these princes quickly changed their minds."

The story of the Egg Prince was completely new to me and is about Princess Lebou who can run faster than any warrior. She lives in Africa and helps to break a spell and release the prince from the egg. But as Annie says: "But in case things don't work out, she sensibly hangs on to those egg shells."

I highly recommend this work of art! Simply one of the most
beautiful books you will ever see if you love embroidery.

A review cannot do this book justice. You must see it to believe it! This deserves at least 100 Stars!

I bought this book for my 5 yr old. She loved the stories as much as the lovely pictures. We have read it many times over. I recommend this as a gift for it is a good collection of stories along with beautiful pictures. It has a beautiful tapestry of stories, highlighted by the many wonderful embroidered images on the page. The pages reflect the linen fabic and add to the stories richness. The stories themselves are a terrific grouping of multicultural tales. Each with a vivid depiction of it's princess heroine. I loved the descriptive stories of many countries and yet they were in many ways noncultural in that princesses are by nature fairly universal the world around. If you wonder if it's as pretty on the inside as the jacket - it is!

This is the first in collection of books about a young girl who finds herself at an Angel Academy after she dies in accident not long after her 12th birthday. Beeing a trainee Angel isn't what Mel Beeby expected from life...er death that is. She still misses her mother and younger sister and she isn't sure at first if she's cut out for the duties of an Angel, duties which include Time Travel and helping people when they need it most back on earth. Also being an Angel can be dangerous work, there are the "others" the [bad] ones who try to thwart the work of the Angels and there are other distractions too in the guise of good looking boy Angels who go by the name of Orlando.

This is a great book for a pre-teen or early teen reader. I wouldn't be surprised if this book and its equally good sequels were eventually made into a TV series. A quality fun read for all those kids who like a fantasy read that sparkles from page to page.

When Mel, Lola, and Reuben are sent to the medievals where there is a kid called Stephen trying to get to Jeresalim with thousands of other kids, a De Winter man comes and offers them a "free ride to Jeresalim" buit they are actually planning to sell them as slaves. Then, against the Agency's wishes, Mel, Lola and Reuben dive into the future where bad-boy Brice, Mel's fallen-angel worst enemy is posing as good guy dave to protect his little brother, Dom, who has re-invented the time machine. Only,Dom wants to send his evil rellies (the de winters) into the future. Its awesome. I read it like five times and its still amazing!

This book was one of the best Nancy Drew books. It captivated your interest and was suspenseful. It was a story of friendships made and renewed. You'll like the surprise ending and how Nancy goes about solving the case.

This was the 2nd best book in the series, only to its predecessor, The Hidden Staircase. The book kicks into action around page 70 and is non-stop suspense from there on. Its actually one of the few books that has a good mystery in the story and the cliff hangers at the end of each chapter are well thought out. In my opinion most of the Nancy Drew books were awful. The set is over rated. Of the original 56 books, about 25 of them are good. Half the set. This ranks in at #2 with me.

You'll love this book! Nancy and helen were saved by a girl named Laura and she becomes their friend.While talking to this poor girl Nancy finds herself solving a suspenseful mystery that will keep you hanging until the very end. Nancy finds that her dad's mystery and Laura's mystery are connected. Read this book and I guarantee that you'll love it all the way to the end!

This book was a bit out of the ordinary but the mix of science fiction, parallel universes, romance, and wonderfully portrayed characters its a very good read. Molly is the out of the ordinary girl who seems oh so ordinary.