Gold!-The Lady Grace Mysteries

By Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler
In the year 1570, in England, at Queen Elizabeth's I court, Lady Grace Cavendish begins to write her adventures in a new diary that Penelope gave to her as a gift. Lady Grace is the youngest Maid of Honour (she is fourteen) of the Queen, and she is also the Queen's Lady Pursuivant, that solves mysteries for the Queen, and the only ones to know this are: the Queen, Ellie the laundry maid, and Masou the tubbler. This time Grace wants to write only about Penelope's wedding, but she doesn't. Penelope was a Maid of Honour, and the Queen is said that she will be going away. To worsen the situation, the Queen's gold is stolen, and Grace tries to find it. After many adventures, Grace discovers that the thief was very clever and gave everyone wrong indications, but Grace with Ellie's and Masou's help demonstrates that the culprit is her friend Lord Ruxbury.

Daughter of Venice

By Donna Jo Napoli
Donata is the daughter of a wealthy nobleman of Venice. She has a twin sister, Laura, and they are always the same, in jewelry and dressing. Donata is a rebel, she wanders the city even though she is not allowed, and her father lets her study with her brothers. One day, her father announces that she will marry, and Laura will enter in a convent, but he doesn't know that Laura has done all the work for Donata in the past month, so Donata could go out and afterwards tell everyone stories of her adventures. Because of this, Donata feels guilty, and she tells her mother that she can't marry. Her mother doesn't believe her, so Donata comes up with a plan in which she will be disgraced and Laura will have to marry in her place. It doesn't really work, but things come out for the best and Laura marries and Donata goes to the university.