Rogue's Gold
by by John Pilkington
Historical fiction for children seems to be making something of a comeback and Usborne is in the vanguard. They have an interesting fiction list, a mixture of re-published older works and new authors.
Rogue's Gold is John Pilkington's first children's book, and is an Elizabethan adventure. Ben Button is the youngest member of a troupe of actors, the boy who has to play all the women's parts. Their patron is Lord Bonner, a nobleman close to the Queen, which proves useful later in the story when skulduggery is uncovered.
Setting out from London on a summer tour, the actors' first stop is Bowford Manor in Surrey, home to Sir James Howard and his family.
Their performance is well received, but others have seen a way to use the actors for their own ends. One is framed for the theft of a valuable, and dangerous, object, the Lodovico plate. Sent to Mary, Queen of Scots, in her exile, it contains a hidden list of sympathisers, which even now several years after the death of Mary means imprisonment and worse for those named.
Ben sets out to uncover the mystery and clear his friend's name, helped by the feisty daughter of Sir James. This involves encounters with dangerous characters and a dash in disguise across the countryside to see the Queen.
Young readers will enjoy this traditional mystery adventure, with its cast of recognisable characters, and learn something of Elizabethan England in the reading. This is an ideal first taste of the genre, something to cut reading teeth on before moving on to titles such as Susan Cooper's King of Shadows.
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