Favorite Childhood Books

I have talked about 'Harold and the Purple Crayon' way back in the early days of this blog. You can see what I said HERE.

Today I am going to discuss another of my favorite books that I have read many times as a kid - 'Cue For Treason'.

"The novel is set in Elizabethan England at the end of the 16th century.[1] Two young runaways become boy actors, at first on the road and later in London, where they are befriended by William Shakespeare. They become aware of a plot against Queen Elizabeth's life and attempt to prevent it." - Wikipedia


This was a book we studied pretty extensively. We studied the history of the Elizabethan times in Social Studies while we read the novel in English class.

There was never a movie made of it but I think it would be a great story to put to film. The themes in the book are still pretty relevant to today's culture despite the fact the book was published in 1940.

"The politics of the Elizabethan era are mentioned in the novel: social concerns over enclosures and unemployment, and the state matters of rebellion and invasion. Forced marriage and the exclusion of women from the drama are touched upon. The values of patriotism, loyalty and independence are stressed. The motives of the conspirators are not examined, being assumed to be simply wealth and power; although historically religion would have been a factor, this is not mentioned beyond a casual reference to "old ways"." - Wikipedia


There are many good young actors today who could pull off the main roles in this old school adventure. Hailee Steinfeld immediately comes to mind. This is a great lost property that Hollywood should snap up.

If you have a tween who loves to read, you could do no wrong by pushing this novel at them. I still have affection for it nearly 35 year after I read it for the first time. I have an original copy that I stole from school and it has the smell of a great old book that has stood the test of time.