Russian royal family - seeking good resources

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm hoping for some suggestions of resources regarding the Russian royal family. I'd be reading aloud to a mature 12 yr old.

Narrative non-fiction is our preferred genre to read, but I'm open to other styles too.

Thanks ? 

 

I'm considering The Family Romanov by Andrea Beach.

Edited October 1, 2018 by chocolate-chip chooky

[LMD]

I'm not much help, but I've had this on my wishlist for a while! 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/086565171X/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_7?smid=AKRKOJJ7RPM4Q&psc=1

[Andromeda]

What time period(s) are you looking for? Russian royal families go back over a thousand years...

There is Ivan the Terrible, for instance, or Vladimir the Red Sun , Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, etc., etc. Each had his or her own challenges and issues of the times such as slavery, Mongol Horde, the War of 1812, and so on to deal with. It really depends on what/when you are looking for.

ETA

When the book was written and from which country's/worldview point of view matters, too. A book on Romanovs written before the Revolution would be very different than one written in the 1970s U.S.S.R vs. written in the past 20 years in Russia, or in Brittain, the U.S., and so on. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by RosemaryAndThyme

[chocolate-chip chooky]

2 hours ago, RosemaryAndThyme said:

What time period(s) are you looking for? Russian royal families go back over a thousand years...

There is Ivan the Terrible, for instance, or Vladimir the Red Sun , Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, etc., etc. Each had his or her own challenges and issues of the times such as slavery, Mongol Horde, the War of 1812, and so on to deal with. It really depends on what/when you are looking for.

ETA

When the book was written and from which country's/worldview point of view matters, too. A book on Romanovs written before the Revolution would be very different than one written in the 1970s U.S.S.R vs. written in the past 20 years in Russia, or in Brittain, the U.S., and so on. 

Yes, good points.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm after because my own general knowledge of this is so poor. The topic came up over dinner one night recently when my 12yr old asked if Russia had a monarchy. My husband and I looked at each other, dredged through our memories and then there was a discussion about whether the Russian royal family was imprisoned and murdered, and if any of them had actually escaped (we both remembered the name Anastasia but couldn't remember the details). So we did a bit of dinner-table googling, had a bit of a discussion, and we were left wanting to know more.

I've ordered this book to start with: The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming (American author)

It would actually be really interesting to read from different viewpoints and compare the 'facts' as they're told.

I'm open to any suggestions - thanks for your input ? 

[Andromeda]

My pleasure!

There is a number of original sources available, such as this Memoirs of Catherine the Great, which appears to be a decent translation. Although she was not Russian by birth, she came to be loved by her adopted people. Anything like this, you should probably pre-read or at least scan through, to make sure that there is nothing that would not suit a 12-year-old.

This book goes back to the first serious rebellion (early 1600s) and covers the beginning of the Romanov era, but it reads more like a textbook.

I have this one, Land of the Firebird, which manages to cover the history of Russia from about AD 850. It is only a very brief overview, but it includes some artwork as well as a good bibliography, which may be helpful for hunting down additional materials.

This one appears to be highly recommended, about Peter the Great , and here is Nicholas and Alexandra, by the same author. It is difficult to say with absolute certainty what happened to them, and whether or not Anastasia really survived (which is rather unlikely). 

[KrissiK]

16 hours ago, RosemaryAndThyme said:

My pleasure!

There is a number of original sources available, such as this Memoirs of Catherine the Great, which appears to be a decent translation. Although she was not Russian by birth, she came to be loved by her adopted people. Anything like this, you should probably pre-read or at least scan through, to make sure that there is nothing that would not suit a 12-year-old.

This book goes back to the first serious rebellion (early 1600s) and covers the beginning of the Romanov era, but it reads more like a textbook.

I have this one, Land of the Firebird, which manages to cover the history of Russia from about AD 850. It is only a very brief overview, but it includes some artwork as well as a good bibliography, which may be helpful for hunting down additional materials.

This one appears to be highly recommended, about Peter the Great , and here is Nicholas and Alexandra, by the same author. It is difficult to say with absolute certainty what happened to them, and whether or not Anastasia really survived (which is rather unlikely). 

Just chiming in here...Peter the Great is an excellent book, but it is quite a tome. It is thick and kind of hard to get through. I ordered Nicholas and Alexandra by Massie and never got through it. Just my two cents.

[shawthorne44]

I'd at least pre-skim the childhood part of any Peter the Great book.   As a child he was abused in all the ways you don't want to think about by the men wanting to dominate him.  

 

[Xahm]

I read Massie's Peter the Great at about that age. Somewhere between 12 and 14, anyway. It is way too long for me to imagine it as a read-aloud, but I loved it and read it a second time a year or two later. I don't recall anything horribly offensively shocking in it. I vaguely recall some sexual issues being mentioned, but I'd remember, I think, if anything was described in lurid detail. I'm trying to recall the name of a middle grades historical fiction work that, if I remember correctly, had a fictionalized account of the fall of the Romanovs and then a long easy on which aspects were verified by history and which were conjecture.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

2 hours ago, xahm said:

I read Massie's Peter the Great at about that age. Somewhere between 12 and 14, anyway. It is way too long for me to imagine it as a read-aloud, but I loved it and read it a second time a year or two later. I don't recall anything horribly offensively shocking in it. I vaguely recall some sexual issues being mentioned, but I'd remember, I think, if anything was described in lurid detail. I'm trying to recall the name of a middle grades historical fiction work that, if I remember correctly, had a fictionalized account of the fall of the Romanovs and then a long easy on which aspects were verified by history and which were conjecture.

Ooh, if you remember, please post. That sounds great!

[Xahm]

2 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Ooh, if you remember, please post. That sounds great!

Found it. It's The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander. The non-fiction material I remembered is actually on a companion website, not on the book itself, at least the edition we have. I'm not good with judging age-ranges for books, but it looks like it's aiming at middle grades to early high school.

[8filltheheart]

Russia Under the Czars

This is a great book. It is a good introduction to Russian history.

Edited October 5, 2018 by 8FillTheHeart

[chocolate-chip chooky]

1 hour ago, xahm said:

Found it. It's The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander. The non-fiction material I remembered is actually on a companion website, not on the book itself, at least the edition we have. I'm not good with judging age-ranges for books, but it looks like it's aiming at middle grades to early high school.

Thank you! It's now on my wishlist ? 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

35 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Russia Under the Czars

This is a great book. It is a good introduction to Russian history.

Thank you!

This one is looking difficult to track down unfortunately. I'll keep hunting!

[Ausmumof3]

On 10/2/2018 at 9:13 AM, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm hoping for some suggestions of resources regarding the Russian royal family. I'd be reading aloud to a mature 12 yr old.

Narrative non-fiction is our preferred genre to read, but I'm open to other styles too.

Thanks ? 

 

I'm considering The Family Romanov by Andrea Beach.

 

Angel on the square by Gloria Whelan

 

 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

6 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

 

Angel on the square by Gloria Whelan

 

 

Thank you ?

I see that it is a companion book to The Impossible Journey. Is that one worth seeking out too, do you know?

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Thank you ?

I see that it is a companion book to The Impossible Journey. Is that one worth seeking out too, do you know?

We have only read the first but I imagine both would be good. 

They are historical fiction not non fiction, but good for an overview of the time period.