Nzingha was a real African queen, a woman who lived from 1582 until 1663. This book covers her life when she is 13 years old, from July 1595 until September 1596.

Nzingha lives in the royal compound with her father, the ruler of Ndongo, his many wives and concubines, and their many children. Nzingha and her two younger sisters are the children of the Ngola's (Ngola is the African word for ruler) second wife, the wife he really loves. Mbandi, the son of the first wife of Nzingha's father, is younger than Nzingha; he's also a bully and a whiner who doesn't like to fight or hunt. Nzingha has been taught to fight like a warrior by Njali, the leader of her father's royal guards, but Mbandi will still be Ngola when their father dies, because he is a boy.

Nzingha wants her father to notice and value her, but he is busy fighting the Portuguese soldiers who are trying to enslave the African people. Before Nzingha was born, a Portuguese priest named Father Giovanni was captured by her father. Over the years, the priest grew to become his trusted advisor. Nzingha doesn't trust Father Giovanni because he is Portuguese, their enemy. But she studies the Portuguese language that Father Giovanni teaches her, and writes down her thoughts in the journal that he suggests she keep. She knows learning all you can about your enemies is the best way to defeat them.

After much work, Nzingha makes her father notice her; he admires her strength and warrior skills. He sends her on a peace mission to the city of Luanda. She will meet with the governor of the Portuguese settlement. Her father tells her to watch, learn all she can, and report back to him. He sends Njali, her great friend among the royal guards, and Father Giovanni on the mission with Nzingha. One of these men, her father says, may be a traitor who is working with the Portuguese. He needs to know which one. Can Nzingha handle the job? What will happen to her in enemy territory? Which man will turn out to be the traitor?

This book is fictionalized history. The author carefully researched all she could about the real people and things that happened. The book has pictures, maps, a family tree, and historical notes. Nzingha, the brave African girl, did grow up to rule her land, the country that is now Angola. Read her engrossing story---how she fought against the slave trade of the Europeans in the Congo, and get an understanding of what life was like in Africa when she lived.

   --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny