History comes alive in Scholastic's The Royal Diaries. Based on the Scholastic book series Dear America, The Royal Diaries, the DVD includes three stories about three teenage princesses who show what life was like during the era in which they lived and the adventures that prepared them for their futures. The stories are based on Cleopatra VII, Isabel I of Castile and Elizabeth I. The Royal Diaries does a good job of explaining the history of these future queens. The plot mainly consists of each princess writing in their diaries. Each story, which is about 26 minutes long, goes into great detail about the struggles of being teenage royalty, which might still just be every girls dream.
The first story, which is based on Cleopatra VII, was probably my favorite story. Teenage Cleopatra introduces us to her royal families and takes us on an adventure that changes history. The main purpose of the story is to show the struggle that Egypt goes through in order to get help from Julius Cesar and the Romans. Cleopatra and her father, the Pharaoh, must do as the Romans do. The must walk, talk and dress like Romans in order to build up the Romans confidence. It isn't until Cleopatra opens her mouth to Cesar that the Romans agree to help out Egypt. Before Cleopatra, Egypt was headed downhill. Without her, who knows what might have happened to Egypt all together. Cleopatra was crowned Queen in 51 BC and ruled until 31 BC.
