Kings & Queens
Marcia Williams
Walker Books

Essentially this is a whistle-stop tour of monarchs, sixty in all, starting with Alfred the Great and going all the way through to our present King Charles 111, presented in Marcia Williams’ trademark comic strip style, with speech bubbles and a wealth of humorous details in both the text (that includes a commentary by royal raven Caw) and illustrations that KS2 readers will really enjoy.

King Caw takes us on a journey along the timeline from 871 BCE to today. Along the way, we learn the dates of each monarch’s reign and any number of quirky facts about them, often relating to their untimely demises.

For instance we read this of William the Conqueror (1066-87) – a thoroughly unpleasant man so we are told: ‘ … he was mortally injured. The wound caused an infection which killed him weeks later. When he came to be buried in France, his coffin was too small and his body exploded.”

This about George 11 (1727-60) made me laugh so much I choked on my coffee: ‘He died on the lavatory after drinking hot chocolate.’

Seemingly the toilet was a dangerous place for royalty: King John (1199-1216) also died on the loo, perhaps due to over consumption of peaches.

A book likely to turn primary age children into history lovers.