The Regency Lady Assessment
by Jasmine A. Stirling
Author of A Most Clever Girl:
How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice
Check each accomplishment or skill you have mastered, then tally your score at the end!
Showcased before the wedding:
_____Can you decoupage screens and small trunks?
_____Do you speak French?
_____Do you have beautiful penmanship?
_____Is your needlework and embroidery elegant?
_____Do you have a pleasing voice when reading aloud?
_____Can you trim your own bonnets in the latest London style?
_____Do you play the harp?
_____Can you make images of birds using feathers?
_____Can you sing in Italian or German?
_____Can you knit or net your own reticule (handbag)?
_____Are you effortlessly graceful in your manner of walking and dancing?
_____Are you effortlessly graceful in your manner of walking and dancing?
Showcased after the wedding:
_____Do you have a firm grasp of how to manage and care for domestic servants including governesses, tutors, and cooks?
_____Are you capable of founding and overseeing the village school?
_____Will you excel at handling every detail of the household accounts?
_____Do you feel comfortable giving advice and listening to the needs of the poor?
_____Can you oversee the making of all domestic provisions from soap to clothing to candles?
_____Will you organize wonderful balls and intimate dinner parties?
_____Are you versed in botany and using plants as home remedies?
Assessment Scale
1-5: Your governess is wanting. Get thee to a dancing master, a boarding school, and/or a cadre of tutors!
6-10: You are a little bit accomplished. You must brush up before you come out!
10-15: Well done. Your education has prepared you for the life of a Regency lady.
15-18: Brava! You are highly accomplished, and are ready to conquer London in the season, with your chaperone in tow.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Found Her Voice
Written by Jasmine A. Stirling
Illustrated by Vesper Stamper
Ages 4-12
48 Pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s Books
ISBN-13: 978-1547601103
Publisher’s Synopsis: Witty and mischievous Jane Austen grew up in a house overflowing with words. As a young girl, she delighted in making her family laugh with tales that poked fun at the popular novels of her time, stories that featured fragile ladies and ridiculous plots. Before long, Jane was writing her own stories-uproariously funny ones, using all the details of her life in a country village as inspiration.
In times of joy, Jane’s words burst from her pen. But after facing sorrow and loss, she wondered if she’d ever write again. Jane realized her writing would not be truly her own until she found her unique voice. She didn’t know it then, but that voice would go on to capture readers’ hearts and minds for generations to come.
MY REVIEW
Stirling, Jasmine A. A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice. Illustrated by Vesper Stamper. New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2021.
Jane Austen is an author beloved by many. Jasmine Stirling tells the story of her life in the beautiful picture biography A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice. Stirling includes details that will interest children and that they can relate to – time with family, leaving a beloved home, death of a parent.
Vesper Stamper created beautiful illustrations to accompany the text. They appear to be done in watercolor. I think A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice deserves a place on your Mock Caldecott list for 2022. It was a delight to page through the book and look at the pictures.
As a picture book the audience will most likely be elementary students; children who, for the most part, are too young to enjoy the works of Jane Austen. A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice would make a great book for a biography book report for a mid-elementary student. I appreciated the selected bibliography and resource list found at the back of the book. These increase the book’s usefulness as a non-fiction book.
A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice could easily find its way into a K-12 Christian school library. It could also find its way into the homes of those who love Jane Austen novels. The book could also be used as a tie-in for a Young Author’s Day – encouraging young writers to find their own voice.I received a complimentary copy of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice. This is my honest review.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasmine A. Stirling is the debut author of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, a picture book biography of Jane Austen about persistence and creative mastery. Jasmine lives on a cheerful street in San Francisco with her husband, two daughters, and their dog. From a young age, she loved to write poems and stories and worked her way through nearly every children’s book (and quite a few for grownups, too) in her local library. When she’s not writing, Jasmine can be found hiking in the fog, singing songs from old musicals, and fiddling with her camera.
Jasmine first fell in love with Jane Austen as a student at Oxford, where she read her favorite of Jane’s six masterful novels, Persuasion. A Most Clever Girl is her dream project, done with her dream team—award-winning illustrator Vesper Stamper and Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing. Jasmine also has a YA/New Adult history of the women’s suffrage movement out soon, titled We Demand An Equal Voice.
Visit www.jasmineastirling.com to get a free Jane Austen paper doll kit with the purchase of A Most Clever Girl. While you’re there, enter to win a Regency tea party gift basket!Follow Jasmine on Instagram and Facebook @jasmine.a.stirling.author where she posts about kidlit and life with two young girls.
GIVEAWAY
Enter for a chance to win a glorious Jane Austen-themed picnic basket, including a hardcover copy of A Most Clever Girl autographed by Jasmine A. Stirling!
One (1) grand prize winner receives:
- A picnic basket filled with:
- A copy of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, signed by author Jasmine A. Stirling
- A vintage teacup
- 1 oz of tea From Adagio Teas
- Truffles from Moonstruck Chocolates
- Gardenia hand cream
- A set of Jane Austen playing cards
- A $15 gift certificate to Jasmine A. Stirling’s Austenite Etsy Shop, Box Hill Goods
Two (2) winners receive:
- A copy of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, signed by author Jasmine A. Stirling
The giveaway begins March 16, 2021, at 12:01 A.M. MT, and ends April 16, 2021, at 11:59 P.M. MT.
Click here for the giveaway if the Rafflecopter doesn’t appear on your screen.
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.jsPURCHASE LINKS
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2O2scVx
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/2078/9781547601103
This post was prepared in partnership with The Children’s Book Review and Jasmine A. Stirling.
Library Lady's Kid Lit 
The rafflecopter link for registering for a free gift does not work. I want to see if I win and get a free book. I’m interested in it for my granddaughter who is too young for this but will grow into it please let me know when it is working.
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It should be working now.
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Thank you for your delightful review! And thank you for recommending the book for the Caldecott! I agree, of course! : )
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I am a huge Jane Austen fan! The basket of goodies and book look like so much fun! Thank you for the giveaway!
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