Author(s): Dave & Neta Jackson
Recommended Age: 8-11
Date Published: 1991
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: Sarah Poytnz is the daughter of a shipping merchant in 16th century Belgium. When her friend, William Tyndale, is captured and imprisoned for translating the Bible into English, Sarah becomes the only chance of saving his life. If she can smuggle a copy of Tyndale’s translation into the hands of King Henry’s wife, Queen Anne, she may be able to convince the King to pardon Tyndale. But if she is discovered, all hope could be lost.
Notes from The Radical Reader:
- Noble Characters: After accidentally befriending Anne Boleyn years ago, Sarah receives a letter with the request that she come as one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. At first Sarah declines the offer, but when she realizes that she can smuggle a Bible with her into the castle and possibly into the hands of the King of England, she finds herself wrapped into an adventure more dangerous and threatening than anything she has known before.
- Captivating Plots: Anyone found teaching, reading, or translating the Scriptures into the common language is condemned as a heretic. But William Tyndale is determined to bring a Bible to the English people. And young Sarah Poytnz knows that she can smuggle a copy into the King of England’s hands, provided she isn’t caught.
- Elaborate Worlds: Set in England and Belgium during the reign of England’s King Henry VIII, The Queen’s Smuggler shows young readers the incredible, true story of William Tyndale’s translation of the Scriptures into English that was met with controversy and hatred, yet paved the way for the English vernacular Bible.
Noteworthy Elements:
- Violence: There are a few references to men and women who were burned at the stake for reading the Bible in English. At the end of the story, William Tyndale is strangled and burned at the stake, but the details are not overly graphic.
- Profanity: Queen Anne, when learning of Sarah’s secret mission, exclaims “By God’s heaven”.
