This charming tale is based on an incident that happened to the young John Paterson during the summer of 1942, when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, her daughter, and two granddaughters spent the summer near Lee, Massachusetts. Young William, frustrated that he’s “too young to do anything to help win the war,” imagines himself as a knight fighting dragons. He longs to see the queen, and visualizes her in a crown and red ermine-trimmed robes. William decides that the delicious blueberries he picks on the family farm might comfort her. Escaping his jeering older brother, he delivers the berries, and even manages to see the queen, who is “disguised like a grandma, but anyone would know she was a real queen.” The gouache paintings with ink cross-hatching recall old-fashioned color-separated illustrations. They beautifully juxtapose the magnificent horses, fire-breathing dragon, and royal robes of William’s fairytale world with realistic images of cars, planes, and war work—images that will appeal to young readers. (Picture book. 4-8)
