I rated this book a 4 simply because I felt as if every single diary entry was related to conveying some aspect of either Japanese life or this time in Japanese history. This is an interesting look at this period in Japanese history (an area I don’t know much about), and it’s full of cultural details. the Imperial court), but completely powerless as she has little say in what goes on. The subtitle “Prisoner of Heaven” details Princess Kazunomiya’s feelings as being part of “Heaven” (a. Rating: 4/5 Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven takes place during the tense shogunate, Chained-In-Country/ sakoku period, when the shoguns and the Emperor were at odds about opening up Japan to trade with other countries. Info: Kathryn Lasky published 2002 by Scholastic Genre: Children’s, Historical Fiction Warnings: None Recommended Age Range: 10+ Lasky conveys the politics well, especially the clash between Shah Jahan’s son and the rest of the family, which also sows the seeds for the religious conflict, and the insidious Nur Mahal. Nevertheless, this is still an interesting look at the close of the Moghul Dynasty, of the tension growing between Islam and Hinduism (that will later be magnified in the split of Bangladesh from India) at the time that extends through to today, and of the powerful and popular Shah Jahan, one of the world’s most well-known architects. And half the characters she interacts with are fictional, so that doesn’t really help things seem more real.

This is somewhat mitigated by Lasky’s author note detailing the lengthy amount of research that went into this book and how she dedicated herself to rendering the characters’ personalities as closely as possible to the historical figures, but still, Jahanara mostly feels like a mouthpiece. This book, above a lot of the others in the series, reads so much like the author is merely using the character to show off the culture and time, as opposed to feeling like an actual person in history. The politics and religious tension are really the most fascinating part of this book, and unfortunately Jahanara herself is probably the least interesting.

And if you don’t know who Shah Jahan is, just think of the Taj Mahal-he’s the one who constructed it for his wife (the mother of Jahanara). But, of course, despite Jahanara’s relative lack of power (she does go on to become an advisor to the emperor) and overall lack of presence in history (only really known as the emperor’s favorite daughter), this book does communicate a great deal about the Moghul dynasty, specifically about Shah Jahan and the Hindu/Muslim clashes. And, due to the rigid and limited roles and customs for women and the fact that Jahanara mentions how a princess of her position doesn’t marry, you might wonder why have a book about this princess at all. Rating: 3/5 Jahanara: Princess of Princesses is at first glance the story of a relatively unknown princess of the Moghul Dynasty.

Elizabeth I by Kathryn Lasky