Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

It’s great storytelling, just not for the young’uns.) In Tuesdays at the Castle the reader gets to know the kind, loving monarchs, through the eyes of their youngest child, and the loss of her beloved parents is sudden, unexpected, and brutal. (These are the same children who lapped up Harry Potter books one, two, and three – the difference being that the HP books begin with Harry’s parents already long dead there’s enough distance to take the emotional edge off. It’s definitely not a book for young children the sudden ambush and murder of the king and queen had one kid in tears and both agreeing to give the book a miss for the time being.

Nevertheless, the marketing department of Bloomsbury USA have made a serious misjudgement regarding the cover designs for Tuesdays at the Castle (all of the editions, but the ebook in particular (the top picture on the right)), which led to my then-five-year-old choosing it expecting a gentle princess story. It’s ideal for anyone who thinks they’re growing out of “princess books”. Tuesdays at the Castle is excellent for older readers and features a truly awesome female protagonist.

There have been a slew of sentient-building stories recently and Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George is easily one of the best of them (followed narrowly by 88 Lime Street and The Inn Between, which I’ll review soon).ĭon’t be misled by the cute cover or even the fun-sounding concept of a castle that changes its rooms around once a week. This review contains SPOILERS and is intended for parents.