Cleopatra: The Girl who would be King by Jackie French
Cleopatra: The Girl who would be King by Jackie French
About Jackie French
Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014- 2015 Australian Children's Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016, Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children's literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia's most popular children's authors and writes across all genres -from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi, to her much-loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups.
Contact details and socials:
Jackie French
About Cleopatra: The Girl who would be King
Forget what you know about Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen with a fantastic hairstyle. That's only part of the story. Before she was a ruler, Cleopatra was a girl with a fierce ambition: to become pharaoh.
When twelve-year-old Cleopatra and her father, Pharaoh Ptolemy XII, flee to ancient Rome in 59 BCE after Cleopatra's sister seizes the throne, they are in serious trouble. It's up to Cleopatra to raise enough gold to hire an army, gain the support of powerful allies, and take back her country's land.
Three years later she had become the most famous pharaoh in history.
This is the story of how that year in ancient Rome might have changed Cleopatra's life, with daring escapes, crocodiles, pirates, shipwreck and encountering the intrepid Captain Fileas and Myra, the slave determined to be free.
From one of Australia's best-loved authors comes the first title in an exciting new series that explores the Ancient World.
Judges’ Comments:
Throwing caution to the crocodiles, the author imagines a possible version of the wild adventures of a young Cleopatra, recently ousted from Egypt by her sister Berenice who plans to seize the throne. Enlisting the help of various real-life historical figures along with a good deal of creative license, Cleo takes us on a fantastical romp through a very real world of pirates and potentates. Yet within this fanciful adventure of the young ruler-in-waiting you'll find jam-packed more historical facts than you could fit in a stuffed dormouse.
Author Quote:
‘It’s easier to see where you’re going if you know where you’ve been, and what deliberate or accidental myths have obscured that path. Fiction woven from fact can be the most vivid way to see our past. Thank you not just for this shortlisting, but for creating the awards that bring our history home. Just now we desperately need to see where we are going. Thank you!’