Queen Victoria's Bathing Machine
Author Gloria Whelan
Illustrations by Nancy Carpenter
30 pages
Published by Lexile 2014
Grade 4 and 5
This is about Queen Victoria and how she wanted so badly to swim in the ocean. She was told by her help how disgraceful it would be to see more than her Queen's hands and her face. She told her husband how she wanted to swim in the ocean. He thought and he thought to come up with a plan to help her wish come true. He invented a bathing machine. Queen Victoria would get in it change clothes then be able to slip into the ocean without anyone seeing her. She was so happy that she finally was able to swim in the ocean. The illustrations go along very well with the story in the poem. They are also dated back a few decades to resemble the people in this time.
This book can be used to help students understand how people of importance can be held to a hire standard. They can also be taught that other cultures may have different expectations of woman in power.
I love the idea of teaching children about how people in power are just people like us with normal desires and wishes. I also like the idea of opening up a way to discuss the expectations of women in positions of power. This is great!
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