Kid In The Front Row Blogathon -- My Favorite Book As A Child

So I read this blog called Kid In The Front Row.  Kid decided to hold a Blogathon today, and I jumped on the opportunity.  After all, since I usually have a hard time coming up with topics on my own, this would give me something to write about.  For this Blogathon, Kid asked us to reread our favorite book from our childhood and then write about it.

I don’t recall my favorite book from when I was a kid, and neither could my mother when I asked her.  I don’t think I even had one; I just liked to read anything and everything.  But when I was in about 6^th or 7^th grade, we read a book in my English class called “A Murder for Her Majesty”, by Beth Hilgartner.  I LOVED this book.  Unfortunately, I could only reread it so many times in the brief period we had them checked out to our class.  Then I had to suffer through not having the book until eventually I forgot about it for a while.  Several years later I remembered the book and how much I loved it, but couldn’t remember the title…then finally in my senior year of college, I remembered the title and author.  I immediately checked it out to reread it and loved it just as much as I had when I was a kid.  Then Kid asked us to reread our favorite childhood book again and share about the experience on the blog, and I welcomed the chance to do so.

A brief description of the book, for your benefit: “A Murder for Her Majesty” is a historical fiction novel set in Elizabethan England.  A girl named Alice Tuckfield witnesses two men murder her father, and she runs away to York, seeking help.  A group of boys finds her wandering the streets, and they decide to “adopt” her.  When they find out she has a beautiful singing voice, they dress her up as a boy called Pup and bring her to sing in the boys choir with them, keeping her true identity a secret so that her father’s murderers won’t be able to find her.  After a while the choir director notices her, and she fashions a male identity to hide under.  She begins taking classes with the boys and private lessons in voice and virginal.  But one of the conspirators to her father’s murder is a priest in the cathedral, and he begins to notice strange things about Pup.  Pup is in increasingly greater danger as Christmastime draws near, but she doesn’t know who to turn to for help.

I don’t want to spoil the ending, so I encourage you to check it out.  (Don't fret. It turns out all right in the end.)  There are many reasons why I loved and still love this book.  It is interesting and exciting, but in a realistic way.  Pup goes through real trials that fill you with the desire to help this poor girl in her difficult situation.  I can’t read it without becoming angry at her enemies for her sake.  The historical fiction is a fairly accurate representation of how the story might have occurred had it actually happened.  It is set in England, where I have always wanted to travel.  It has a boys choir, and those have always fascinated me.  Pup’s emotions are real and relatable, especially as she struggles to deal with the loss of her father and becoming an orphan.  She develops a strong bond to her friends in the boys choir, one where they can have a blast and she can count on them to help her when she’s in danger.  But I think the reason I love it so much is the music.

You see, in this book, Pup is the daughter of a talented musician who writes music for the Queen of England.  Though she keeps her father’s identity a secret, her schoolmasters at the cathedral recognize that she has a gift for music and are amazed at her talents.  Hilgartner puts so much music in this book, describing everything from the note progression to music theory to the wonder and beauty of music that resonates, that fills your heart and soul in such a way that it seems impossible.  It is so beautiful you feel like it will consume you; it is so beautiful it hurts.  Even thinking about it now fills me with wistfulness and longing to be a part of it.  I have loved music all my life; even as a child, I marveled at the miracle of music-making.  And this book reminds me of that.  The book does not play music for me to hear, but I can hear in my heart what Pup hears, what she learns, what she sings.  It is as though I am a part of her and the music.  This book almost makes me wish that I lived in that time, that I could learn about and study music to my heart’s content.

Of course, I know that I am much better off in many ways for my situation in 2011.  Even so, it brings me a sense of joy and fulfillment to go back and reread this book, to feel once again the emotions I felt as a child, to be reminded of the beauty of beautiful melodies and harmonies.  And it makes me think, once again, of my studies and my career.  Music doesn’t pay unless you’re John Williams or Yo-Yo Ma, and if you love something but you can’t make a living with it in this world, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.  So here I am, rereading a book that fueled my original love for music, preparing to go into a completely different field, wishing I could be like Pup and just spend all day every day with music.  I suppose I will have to live vicariously through her...aren't books where you can do that the best books to read?