The Queen’s Amulet by Julianne Balman is a beautiful little
story about Amidala losing and then finding her amulet. The amulet is important because of its
sentimental value; it was made for her by her father.
The art by Matilda Harrison was my favorite aspect of the book;
it was innocently nostalgic and colourful.
The most enjoyable part of the story was page 2, and Harrison’s picturesque scene with
the Queen and Sabe leaving Theed while the two make their way through a grassy
field. They are heading to the place where the
Queen last had her amulet. Flying above
the maidens are two giant Peko Peko birds, and tucked into the corner of the page
are some strange looking lizard-birds spying on the two girls. The city of Theed is in the distance with the
sun rising above them. It’s a beautiful
bit of art.
The Queen finds her amulet just before the Trade Federation
lands their invasion force. The story
ends with Padme and Sabe switching roles, and the rest we’re very familiar
with.
For my next post I’m going to look at another adaptation of
The Phantom Menace, Patricia C. Wrede’s scholastic version. Until then my friends, may the Force be with
you.
I liked the art in this little book, too. Between this and Queen in Disguise, I think Padme got two of the better children's tie-ins to TPM featuring original stories.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so far that is definatly the case.
ReplyDeleteit took me forever to figure out that the amulet was made by her father. but yet it never made an onscreen appearence. oh poodoo.
ReplyDeleteThat's unfortunate. One of the greatest aspects of Star Wars is that everything has a backstory. It's a shame the amulet never appears in TPM. Does is appear in any of the other two films though?
ReplyDeletefrom what i know and doing soem research the amulet never seems to appear in the series at all. i don't think its in the tv series, either. oh darn.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Amidala's amulet until she mentioned it in her journal. If they hadn't said anything else about it, I would have thought they made a mistake and it was Anakin's amulet, the queen just had it too early...
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what it looks like?
“My father gave me the amulet before I was Queen. It’s only transparisteel and stone, but I’ve always worn it”
ReplyDeleteThe amulet appears on the first page. Imagine an oval shaped stone entwined with gold wire with a small loop at the top.