THE YEOMAN'S DARING DAUGHTER AND THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER

Working with a potent mix of history and speculation, Clayton takes on the mystery and intrigue that continues to surround the disappearance of Prince Edward and Prince Richard from the Tower of London in 1483. After the death of their father, King Edward IV, the two princes were taken to the Tower of London by their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, supposedly for their own safety until Prince Edward’s coronation. According to this epistolary picture book, Jane, the guard’s daughter, enters into a lively correspondence with the young princes, who have seen her from their tower window. When she learns that they are in danger, she leads them to a rowboat docked nearby and they are able to escape. The hurriedly written exchanges and the shadowy settings of the illustrations offer suspense; an afterword explains that the princes’ actual fate is unknown. The landmarks of 15th-century London, maps, a timeline, and a family tree that illustrates the progression of the royal line help bring the story to life; the only weakness is in Clayton’s renderings of human figures, which are poorly drawn and inconsistent. The story is so delightful, and the premise so ripe that most readers will be willing to overlook the flaws of the art. (Picture book. 4-8)