Through compelling journal entries, this entry in The Royal Diaries series takes readers back to a time in ancient Egypt when Cleopatra was a 12-year-old princess, traveling to Rome to meet the likes of Caesar, Cicero, and Marc Antony for the first time. Gregory imagines how the intelligent, literate princess might record events both large and small, proposing that even at such a young age, Cleopatra struggled to learn diplomacy. The attention to detail draws readers headlong into ancient Egypt, describing with immediacy and vigor the spices, views, tastes, and smells that a young Cleopatra may have encountered. An epilogue, family tree, historical notes, and numerous black-and-white illustrations fill in the rest of her story. (Fiction. 8-12)
