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Who Was . . . ? Series
Who Was Queen Victoria?
Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian Era, a period of industrial, cultural, scientific, and political change that was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. But Victoria was raised under close supervision and near isolation until she became Queen of the United Kingdom at the young age of 18. She married her first cousin, Albert, and had nine children who married into families across Europe. By the time she had earned the nickname “The Grandmother of Europe” and the title “Empress of India” it was indeed true that the sun never set on the British Empire. Publicly, she became a national icon, but privately, Who Was Queen Victoria?
112 pages, Paperback
First published July 10, 2014
99 people are currently reading
545 people want to read
About the author
Jim Gigliotti
155 books25 followersJim Gigliotti is a freelance writer who lives in Southern California with his wife and two children. A former editor at the National Football League, he has written more than two dozen books, mostly for young readers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
December 1, 2022
It's Great for Middle Aged readers. Good introduction to Victoria so they can ask further questions and learn more when they get older
May 28, 2019
This is written for children. It was fun and somewhat informative. A very brief although, sugarcoated, look at Queen Victoria.
February 19, 2017
The queen who popularized the white wedding dress, and whose husband, Prince Albert popularized the Christmas tree.
March 5, 2019
After watching the PBS series on Queen Victoria, I wanted to know a little more about her. These "Who is" book series are great for fun facts and a quick bio. Investigate adult biographies if you want more depth.
January 24, 2021
This was a quick and interesting entry in this series. Despite enjoying many British things, I don't actually know much about Queen Victoria (haven't seen the Masterpiece series yet either). This seemed like a good introduction, but I suspect a lot has been left out. And despite how lauded Victoria was, this book didn't demonstrate to me what exactly she did to earn that other than ruling for a long time. The author emphasized that the queen was absent and not very involved during large chunks of her reign. Her husband Albert's contributions are discussed more than hers. It seemed like the United Kingdom prospered during her reign, but not necessarily because of it.
As another reviewer pointed out, the idea of imperialism is also fairly sugar-coated. Other books in this series have done a better job of introducing complex topics in an age-appropriate way, so this one seems lacking in comparison. However, I did enjoy learning that it was Victoria who popularized the white wedding dress and that Albert introduced the German tradition of the Christmas tree to the royal family, and thus to much of the rest of the world.
As another reviewer pointed out, the idea of imperialism is also fairly sugar-coated. Other books in this series have done a better job of introducing complex topics in an age-appropriate way, so this one seems lacking in comparison. However, I did enjoy learning that it was Victoria who popularized the white wedding dress and that Albert introduced the German tradition of the Christmas tree to the royal family, and thus to much of the rest of the world.
January 22, 2021
This was a pretty good book. I feel so bad for poor Victoria losing so many of her family members...
March 18, 2017
It was fascinating but it didn't cover any of the many assassination attempts against her, including when she was pregnant with her first child and Albert selflessly got shot shielding her body with his own. Makes me wonder what other information I would be missing out on.
December 2, 2018
Who Was Queen Victoria by Jim Gigliotti is a good biography. You get yo read about Queen Victoria’s childhood. The biography covers her life when she was growing up and that she would always have someone with her at all times. The Queen couldn't have her own room, someone had to be with her at all times even when she was going up and down the stairs. Queen Victoria definitely had a sad and happy life, this is a good book to read and learn about history.
May 9, 2024
I love re-learning history with my kids! Currently we are studying the Victorian Era. Who Was Queen Victoria was the perfect book to get a full understanding of who she was and the life she lived. It was also our first "Who Was" book. I was impressed and will continue to utilize this series as we learn about different people in history!
June 23, 2017
The Who Was…? biography series are perfect for elementary or intermediate age students interested learning about the featured person for an assignment or just for an exciting read. The afterward portion in this edition has a timeline on one side showing key events in Queen Victoria's life and the opposite page shows worldwide key events during the same time period. Making for an interesting comparison and will help readers get a better feel for what else was happening at those times.
May 15, 2017
I enjoy this series very much and often use them to supplement our homeschool. This I read for my own amusement, and I'd recommend it for an elementary or middle school reader. The biography is interesting and brief.
August 9, 2018
Read for the third time; now with audiobook.
January 12, 2019
Very informative and fun to read.
Still I was a bit vexed by a couple sentences:
1) “Many of the world’s empires grew through wars and military domination. The British Empire was not built for military purposes, however.”
He goes on to say that it grew mainly through trade and manufacturing. But how can he look past the fact that the empire was created and maintained by belligerent land and sea power? Also, how can he not mention the killing of native peoples and the use of slaves? What about impressment of American sailors?
If they can publish “Who Was Anne Frank?”, I don’t see why they can’t publish these crucial facts of history.
Just to name a few wars that helped to or attempted to create or maintain the empire: the Seven Year’s War, the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Opium War, the Crimean War, the Boer War, the Great Game.
Although a few of these wars are mentioned in the book, they are not taken into consideration in his statement. Although slavery ended for the British in 1807 and some of these wars preceded Victoria, they still need to be taken into consideration as background when making a statement like that above.
2) The second disturbing sentence was “its famous red-coated army helped keep the peace in places far from England.”
Keep the peace??!! Wow!! I didn’t think you could spell “colonize and oppress” that way. You’ve gotta be kidding me. Suddenly the red-coats went from tyrants infringing liberty to peacekeepers.
Sure, each soldier is a unique individual, but the purpose of military training is to destroy individuality and have them act as one massive force enforcing the king or queen’s will. It would be problematic to build an army with people who believed in peace or who dissented to a tyrannical leader. The whole point is to keep them in line so they obey orders and raise profits for business.
It is the same in every military today.
These are complex ideas but they CAN and SHOULD be simplified and stressed as an important part of the story for young readers.
Would the publisher approve such truths? That’s a different story. I would hope so, but we know too well how business puts profit over truth.
There probably were a couple other sentences that irked me, but overall I still loved this book, particularly since it got me interested in her German husband, Prince Albert. He popularized the Christmas tree (Tannenbaum), made efforts to end slavery around the world (after the slave trade swelled British power pre-1807), and helped design experimental housing for the poor.
I’m also glad to see that Queen Victoria was a fan of Charles Dickens and met him. According to her, “He talked of...America and the strangeness of the people there, of the division of class in England, which he hoped would get better in time,”. Was Queen Victoria therefore class-conscious? I would like to think so.
I’ve made a largely negative critique, but I still think it is worth reading. Just explain the truth of imperialism to your kids when they read it.
Still I was a bit vexed by a couple sentences:
1) “Many of the world’s empires grew through wars and military domination. The British Empire was not built for military purposes, however.”
He goes on to say that it grew mainly through trade and manufacturing. But how can he look past the fact that the empire was created and maintained by belligerent land and sea power? Also, how can he not mention the killing of native peoples and the use of slaves? What about impressment of American sailors?
If they can publish “Who Was Anne Frank?”, I don’t see why they can’t publish these crucial facts of history.
Just to name a few wars that helped to or attempted to create or maintain the empire: the Seven Year’s War, the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Opium War, the Crimean War, the Boer War, the Great Game.
Although a few of these wars are mentioned in the book, they are not taken into consideration in his statement. Although slavery ended for the British in 1807 and some of these wars preceded Victoria, they still need to be taken into consideration as background when making a statement like that above.
2) The second disturbing sentence was “its famous red-coated army helped keep the peace in places far from England.”
Keep the peace??!! Wow!! I didn’t think you could spell “colonize and oppress” that way. You’ve gotta be kidding me. Suddenly the red-coats went from tyrants infringing liberty to peacekeepers.
Sure, each soldier is a unique individual, but the purpose of military training is to destroy individuality and have them act as one massive force enforcing the king or queen’s will. It would be problematic to build an army with people who believed in peace or who dissented to a tyrannical leader. The whole point is to keep them in line so they obey orders and raise profits for business.
It is the same in every military today.
These are complex ideas but they CAN and SHOULD be simplified and stressed as an important part of the story for young readers.
Would the publisher approve such truths? That’s a different story. I would hope so, but we know too well how business puts profit over truth.
There probably were a couple other sentences that irked me, but overall I still loved this book, particularly since it got me interested in her German husband, Prince Albert. He popularized the Christmas tree (Tannenbaum), made efforts to end slavery around the world (after the slave trade swelled British power pre-1807), and helped design experimental housing for the poor.
I’m also glad to see that Queen Victoria was a fan of Charles Dickens and met him. According to her, “He talked of...America and the strangeness of the people there, of the division of class in England, which he hoped would get better in time,”. Was Queen Victoria therefore class-conscious? I would like to think so.
I’ve made a largely negative critique, but I still think it is worth reading. Just explain the truth of imperialism to your kids when they read it.
Read
November 15, 2019The book "Who Was Queen Victoria?" by Jim Gigliotti is a biography about a girl named Victoria who was crowded Queen at the age of 18 after her uncle whom was the former king died, the reason why Victoria was crowded queen was because her uncle died after she turned 18, if he would have died before her mother would have been frowned queen. Something that I learned from this book was that when Queen Victoria's husband died she wore only black to represent her mourning over Albert her husband and in every picture or painting she made sure to have a picture of Albert next to her. Another thin I learned was that the Victorian era was named after Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria was named the grandmother of Europe because her offspings married into royal families throught Europe, including Germany, Spain, Norway, Russia, and more.
October 24, 2020
Until recently Queen Victoria held the title of British Monarch who had reigned the longest. She became Queen when her uncle, King William IV, died. When she died her eldest son, Bertie, became King Edward VII. Her great-great-granddaughter is Queen Elizabeth II.
This book tells her story from birth to death. Why should we care about her? Because many things happened because of her and during her reign as Queen. White cloth was expensive but she decided to wear a white wedding gown. This became known throughout the world and brides since wear white. She married a German prince who brought the German custom of bringing an evergreen tree inside in the middle of winter to celebrate life - this is the origin of the Christmas Tree! She was the first British royal to travel by train. She had nine children and went into mourning when her husband died. During her reign the British Empire grew, Dickens wrote his books, and Noble invented dynamite. Lister introduced antiseptics to the world. A British physicist and Chemist tested an incandescent lightbulb, a year before Edison. The adhesive stamp came into being during her reign. She was also the first Monarch to be photographed. This era in history is called the Victorian era because, for the most part, it was peaceful and prosperous. Though the Boer Wars in South Africa and our Civil War occured. This is a good introduction to this Queen and her time.
This book tells her story from birth to death. Why should we care about her? Because many things happened because of her and during her reign as Queen. White cloth was expensive but she decided to wear a white wedding gown. This became known throughout the world and brides since wear white. She married a German prince who brought the German custom of bringing an evergreen tree inside in the middle of winter to celebrate life - this is the origin of the Christmas Tree! She was the first British royal to travel by train. She had nine children and went into mourning when her husband died. During her reign the British Empire grew, Dickens wrote his books, and Noble invented dynamite. Lister introduced antiseptics to the world. A British physicist and Chemist tested an incandescent lightbulb, a year before Edison. The adhesive stamp came into being during her reign. She was also the first Monarch to be photographed. This era in history is called the Victorian era because, for the most part, it was peaceful and prosperous. Though the Boer Wars in South Africa and our Civil War occured. This is a good introduction to this Queen and her time.
May 4, 2023
"Although Victoria was only eighteen, she had been preparing for her role..."
"Although Victoria was only eighteen, she had been preparing for her role since she was eleven years old. That was when she became the next in line to the throne."
This edition was written in 2014, on 9 Sept 2015 Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in UK history, so this book was accurate when it was written, but could use an update either to the text in general, or at least to its blurb about Queen Elizabeth at the end.
That being said, I picked this up from the library and read it the week before King Charles III's Coronation, and felt the timing was quite nice.
In addition to being a solid overview of Victoria's life, sprinkled throughout this book is interesting trivia about Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, her Coronation, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, lots of things that are still in the news.
The book also touches on her title of "grandmother of Europe".
"Although Victoria was only eighteen, she had been preparing for her role since she was eleven years old. That was when she became the next in line to the throne."
This edition was written in 2014, on 9 Sept 2015 Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in UK history, so this book was accurate when it was written, but could use an update either to the text in general, or at least to its blurb about Queen Elizabeth at the end.
That being said, I picked this up from the library and read it the week before King Charles III's Coronation, and felt the timing was quite nice.
In addition to being a solid overview of Victoria's life, sprinkled throughout this book is interesting trivia about Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, her Coronation, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, lots of things that are still in the news.
The book also touches on her title of "grandmother of Europe".
March 29, 2019
Who Was Queen Victoria? by Jim Gigliotti is about Queen Victoria (1819-1901) who was such a pleasant queen, they named Victorian Era after her. I’d recommend this to 5th and 6th graders because the series this author makes lets you learn more about what the person did and Queen Victoria did many things. When she first became queen she was 18 years old which was the age she needed to be to become a queen. Her father died when Victoria was young. Later in her life her mother and her fathers close friend began to talk and get closer with Victoria so they can take the throne. But the King before Victoria knew what her mother was doing and called her out. And he made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t die until Victoria was 18 and could have the throne. And after he died, he kept his promise leaving Victoria queen of the United Kingdom.
April 9, 2019
Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian Era, a period of industrial, cultural, scientific, and political change that was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. But Victoria was raised under close supervision and near isolation until she became Queen of the United Kingdom at the young age of 18. She married her first cousin, Albert, and had nine children who married into families across Europe. By the time she had earned the nickname “The Grandmother of Europe” and the title “Empress of India” it was indeed true that the sun never set on the British Empire. Publicly, she became a national icon, but privately, Who Was Queen Victoria?
December 1, 2022
When Victoria was a child her mother kept her close to her side to influence her future. Her mother made her sleep in her bedroom until she became queen. Shortly after hearing that she had become queen Victoria's first order was to move her bed to her own room. She kept her mother away from her so she could not influence her decisions as her mother had planned. Victoria was a well-educated person who could speak several languages and new a great deal about history. She ruled for seventy years being the longest reigning royal at the time of her death. This was a fast read and a good beginning for learning about her life.
March 2, 2018
Fascinating!! I didn't know anything about Queen Victoria. I wish there had been more about her reign and her influence during that time. It seemed from the book that she became a shadow of a ruler during her later years after husband died. It leaves me puzzled as to why the whole time period is called the Victorian Era. Maybe many of those political-type details were left out in favor of other details about her whole life because this was a youth book. I'm intrigued about her life and would like to know more. Still, her life was fascinating, and I'd like to know more.
March 2, 2018
All though this is geared towards older children I quite enjoyed reading this short book. I was surprised that there was actually something in here that I hadn’t known before reading this. The Who Was series is definitely something I would have read growing up. It’s perfect for children 9 - 12 who love to learn about history. But just because they are geared towards that age group don’t let it stop you from reading one for yourself. I’m an adult who enjoyed reading this short biography and I plan on looking into reading more of them.
September 25, 2025
As my (middle) namesake, I have a growing interest in learning more about Queen Victoria. My earliest impressions were of Judy Dench's portrayal of her in Mrs. Brown and I thought--certainly not! She's just so sad all the time! This book did slightly more to demonstrate that, prior to Albert's death, Victoria was strong-willed, adventurous, and an advocate for many great causes. I wish she had more decades outside of the shroud of grief.
I read this with my oldest son, who found her interesting. We'll move on to Queen Elizabeth II at his request soon enough.
I read this with my oldest son, who found her interesting. We'll move on to Queen Elizabeth II at his request soon enough.
October 8, 2019
I may be a bit of a closet Anglophile. I was shelving books and stood, in front of the biography section and read this book that I was only supposed to be shelving. It's so easy to see why the kids dig this series. In just 100 or so pages you have a basic knowledge of the subject--and what a fascinating subject she was. Just really nicely done! Now I'm thinking I may become one of the kids who reads one and then can't stop.
October 7, 2017
Hmm, this is my first time reading one of these in the series, and I expected more detail?!... A very quick read, but I realize that I’d rather read something that goes greater in-depth than these short overviews with amusingly odd facts sprinkled throughout
* UPDATE: I realized that these are for kids. Haha *
* UPDATE: I realized that these are for kids. Haha *
January 4, 2021
It was good to read a concise biography of Queen Victoria. I have been slowly watching the TV series portraying the beginning of her 63-year reign and the start of the Victorian Era. She was 18 years old when she became Queen of the United Kingdom.
Her marriage to Albert and the birth of their nine children expanded the empire and furthered the impact of England in the world.
Her marriage to Albert and the birth of their nine children expanded the empire and furthered the impact of England in the world.
September 13, 2022
Impressive. Queen Victoria's life story shows that she was such a humble person. I felt sorry for her as she mourned for so many years. It was the first time for me to know that Prince Albert was the one who spread the tradition of the Christmas tree. Also I liked that way in teaching their children how to be normal by teaching them the household skills.
January 13, 2025
This was my first “Who Was” book and I found it really enjoyable! It was full of good information, not just about the Queen, but her family, friends, advisors, as well as events in Great Britain and other historical figures. It was easy to read and includes tons and of pictures.
I plan to read more of these alongside my kiddos.
I plan to read more of these alongside my kiddos.
August 28, 2020
Queen Victoria is a brilliant queen of Europe!
Her reign is called the Victoria era
Her reign was 63 years, 7 months, and two days
It was the longest reign in the time!
She outlived three of her children!
Be ready to meet Queen Victoria in this book!
Her reign is called the Victoria era
Her reign was 63 years, 7 months, and two days
It was the longest reign in the time!
She outlived three of her children!
Be ready to meet Queen Victoria in this book!
December 7, 2021
Pretty good book, although not the most intriguing of the Who Was books I've read. Slightly dated, too, because it mentions more than once that Queen Victoria had the longest reign of any British monarch, but of course that is no longer true as that record belongs to Queen Elizabeth II now!
February 26, 2017
Perfect short biography to get background for the Masterpiece series
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews