Stop! Thief! The Queen's Handbag by Steve Anthony

The Queen, with her corgi, climbs into the royal carriage, ready for a royal tour of her kingdom, when a sneaky swan heists her royal handbag! The Queen without a pricey but conservative handbag is inconceivable, unthinkable! So the Queen quickly commandeers a red convertible roadster and gives chase past Windsor Castle, escorted from the rear by a battalion of bystanders, Bobbies, and Beefeaters eager to assist their dought sovereign.

At Stonehenge she switches to a red motorcycle, hot on the tailfeathers of the sneaky swan. But then, arriving at Land's End, she is forced to fly over the White Cliffs of Dover in an RAF fighter jet. Overflying Oxford (without taking a degree) she pursues the purloined purse with the singleness of purpose that Her Highness always deploys.

The snow goose, however, flies on, forcing the Empress of the Empire to sky-dive into Snowdonia, where she takes the train in steely pursuit past the iron Angel of the North, mounting a royal charger at Edinburgh Castle and leading the troop of mounted police in a hilarious Derby ride back to London... where, mingling with the mob at the London Marathon. . . .

. . . the Queen sprints speedily and snatches the sneaky swan to take possession of her handbag once more.

All of this without her hat.

But the Queen never goes anywhere without a suitable hat! (See Steve Anthony's earlier companion book, The Queen's Hat.

In a rollicking tale of Britain's indomitable queen, The Queen's Handbag (Scholastic Press), youngsters get a tour of some of the famed tourist sites of Great Britain, escorted and even led by none less than than Her Royal Highness. Author-illustrator Steve Anthony's character-filled pages enliven the brief but punchy narrative to keep the pages turning through the chase, while artist Anthony's busy and comic illustrations which encourage kids to stop and enjoy the trip along the way through the U.K. Long live the doughty Queen!