When his brother Roger announces that a queen has moved in up the road, William knows he’s joking—there aren’t real queens in the U.S.A. But it’s true! The year is 1942, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her family are spending the wartime summer in New England. William longs to meet the neighboring royalty. Struck with inspiration one morning, he sets out with a basket of freshly picked blueberries. Upon arriving at the queen’s temporary home, he is assured by the woman who meets him at the door that his gift of berries is just what the Queen needs. To his surprise, the woman at the door is a princess, and the Queen herself is a “plump, white-haired lady in a regular old dress” who smiles “just as his own grandmother would have.” A concluding historical note describes author John Paterson’s childhood experience of delivering blueberries personally to Queen Wilhelmina while she was renting a Massachusetts home with her daughter and granddaughters. The Patersons’ charming story is enhanced by illustrations showing the products of William’s active imagination as it is sparked into overdrive by the proximity of royalty. His visions of a fairy-tale queen in a crown and ermine robes, a turreted castle, and himself as a knight in armor riding a white steed are delightfully balanced by the reality of an ordinary-looking woman with the extraordinary title of Queen. (Ages 5–9)

In 1942 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, living in exile after theNazi invasion of her country, spent the summer in Lee, Massachusetts,with her daughter and granddaughters. The following is based on a truestory....

It’s summertime in New England during World War II, and a boy namedWilliam likes to imagine at bedtime that he is a brave knight fightinggreat battles to end the war. But in the morning he is always justWilliam again, not big enough to contribute to the war effort like therest of his family.

Then a real queen moves in just down the road: Queen Wilhelmina of theNetherlands. William’s parents explain that the queen has been forced out of her country because of the war. Now William has his chance to do something. It may not be “war work” -- it’s more like peace work—but that makes all the difference.

Susan Jeffers’s dramatic illustrations portray the compelling contrastbetween William’simagination and the real events in the story, which are based on anactual incident in John Paterson’s childhood. Visually stunning, with anevocative, poignant telling, this is the picture-book art form at itsfinest.