Review by Kirkus Book Review
Why can't you make this one funny, Jean Fritz? Perhaps the fact that we Americans demythologized King George some time back makes the details of his domestic life seem merely trivial and the many faux pas committed by his chief steward at the coronation less than refreshingly shocking. (The horse Lord Talbot had trained to back away from the King and Queen will very likely get a laugh when he backs in to them instead--but Fritz might have mentioned that the backing out was a polite custom observed by humans as well.) Another handicap no doubt is the absence of that shared affection which so clearly underlay the jokes on Paul Revere deprived of his horse or Sam Adams learning to ride one--and which generally made our patriots' foibles engaging. (Though King George might well have felt like ""a father with a family of very, very disobedient children"" when America started ""acting up,"" it's hard to muster any filial indulgence.) Or maybe the problem lies in lackluster George himself; in any case, Fritz fails to project a personality that can make up for the shortage of history. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
