Pat McKissack

Presents the fictional diary of thirteen-year-old Nzingha, a sixteenth-century West African princess who loves to hunt and hopes to lead her kingdom one day against the invasion of the Portuguese slave traders.

Warrior Queen of Matamba

Nzingha

This is a great book about a powerful, intelligent, strong leader! A hero ♥️

Sabrina D. 

The conceit of this book - the Portuguese priest that Nzingha's father captured has been secretly educating her and her sisters and told her she should start a diary - is very weak. Nzingha shows so much contempt and mistrust for the priest that it doesn't make any sense for her to start this diary at his suggestion. It makes more sense for her to throw the book in the river to spite him, given her attitude to him. But that wouldn't give an excuse to add Nzingha to the Royal Diaries series so obviously that's not what she does. But the sense that this diary, by its very nature, is unrealistic to who Nzingha likely was, makes the book a bit of a tough sell. But I have so much fondness for this series from my childhood nostalgia, that I'll mostly let it slide. I can definitely see why I enjoyed it and the rest of the series so much as a kid when it was easier for me to suspend my disbelief.

Nzingha Warrior Queen of Matamba

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