The History and Activities of Ancient Greece by Greg Owens

This book is a little different from the others we've read so far. It's divided into two parts, the first part features the usual discussion of the origins of Democracy and 'life in Ancient Greece', and the second section contains some art and cooking projects that children can do with adult assistance.

Here are the Contents:

The World's First Democracy
Life in Ancient Greece
Arts and Sports
Hands-On Ancient History
-- Sesame Cakes
-- Makes a Peplos
-- Paint a Greek Vase
-- Make a Fresco Painting

Glossary
More Books to Read
A Note to Teachers
Index

The book does a very good job, in my opinion, of describing the origins and practice of Democracy in very few words (two pages). It's coverage of Greek lifestyle is more-or-less the standard fair covering as much material as the other books we've used, in about as much detail.

So far, this has been the only book that has presented us with a timeline. It's very contracted (only 1/2 page and 7 events) but if you have kids that like such things it will give them some idea of the mega-events that fell between 2800 BC (Minoans on Crete) and 146 BC (Rome becomes the dominant player).


We're going to make the sesame cakes and I'll update this review with the results to let you know whether it's worth the time and effort. As for the other projects, although my daughter is constantly pestering me to make a peplos, I see little chance of that happening. The same with the paper mache vase project, and the fresco project that requires us to make a plaster casting.

THE SKINNY:::
I liked this book principally for how Greg Owens handles the sections on Democracy and the Peloponnesian war.

The artwork and photo selections are good.

I like the project selections, although they aren't something I think most teachers would want to tackle. Better for homeschoolers perhaps.

All in all, unless you are going to use the projects to flesh out your studies, I don't think this book rates a place on the home shelves.

Well written.


Hands-On Ancient History:
The History and Activities of Ancient Greece
by Greg Owens

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree (2007)
• ISBN-10: 1403479208 and 1403479283
• amazon
  

Technical Stuff
No Reading information available.
Perhaps 3rd or 4th grade (?)

" The Ancient Greeks" (History Starts Here) by John Malam-- History Books for Kids

This is another general book on the Ancient Greeks, and though it had features of interest, it wasn't my favorite. Generally I would say that it was serviceable for the classroom, particularly for younger elementary students that read above grade level -- but it's not a good choice for the home shelves.

Here are the chapter headings:

Who Were the Greeks?
The Beginning of Greece
Athens -- City of Marble
How a City Was Run
Life in Ancient Greece
Children and School
Greek Clothes
Food and Drink
Gods and Goddesses
Festivals and Games
Stories and Theater
The Greeks at War
The End of the Greeks

Important Dates
Glossary
Further Information
Index

The Skinny:::
I thought the material was too simple for the reading level. For example, while the author spoke of Athens, there was no mention of Sparta and it's culture, nor of the warfare that took place between the city-states. Similarly, there were few details giving about the dining accommodations, and no mention of the term Andron, which we've run across in every other 'general' level book we've read.

What I did like were the two pages which were spent on the Minoans and Mycencaeans. Oddly enough, this is the only book, thus far, that has specifically mentioned that the Minoans did not speak Greek. I also liked the additional information that was offered on clothing and dyes. Other books mentioned spinning wool, and wool for clothing, but this book added that the Greeks also used linen to dress themselves.

The picture selection was very, very good. There was a great picture of a stone doll, for example, that had legs that pivoted.

Note: I think you'll find this book difficult to track down. There are different ISBNs and publishers given and tracking down the reading information was a messy business.

The Ancient Greeks (History Starts Here)
by John Malam, Michael & Kasia Posen (Illus.)

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Wayland
• ISBN-10: 0750244518, also 1433940914
• amazon
  

Technical Stuff
Word Count: 1,976
Reading Level: 4.4
Interest Level: Elementary
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 4.4 / points: 0.5 / quiz: 140267

Another site gives the reading level as 4.5, and the Quiz as 48876.

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

Michael Townsend's Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders -- Good History Books for Kids

My children ADORE this book! It has the zany humor my "Captain Underpants Lovin'" 8 year-old son craves, and it had a level of humor a bit more sophisticated than that, that both my 10 year-old daughter and I enjoyed.

The stories covered:

The Foolish King Midas and the Golden Touch
Pandora and the Box of Mystery
Pygmalion and His Rocky Relationship!!!
The Abduction of Persephone
Arachne Gets a Big Head!!!
Perseus vs. Two Nasty Kings and a Really Ugly Monster
Pyramus and Thisbe- An Icky Love Story
The Short Flight of Icarus
Hercules and the Ten Labors (Give or Take a Few)
The Drawn-Out Finale...

What permanently endeared this book to me was that my kids totally got the messages that myths were meant to tell. Far from obscuring the themes, the humor and Townsend's shorthand version, seemed to clarify them and cement them in my children's heads.

A perfect example of this occurred the other night when we were all watching some junky-show on TV. It was a show with a version of the Romeo and Juliette story, and Laura piped up and said, 'Dad, that's just like the story of Thisbe and Pyramus'. To which Dave added, 'but without the crack in the wall."

The Skinny:::

Michael Townsend's book was a real hit in our household. My children (boy and girl; 8 and 10) loved it.

The versions of these ancient myths in this book are approximations of the original stories. They are riddled with humor and summaries of some of the 'bigger' themes. At first I wondered if the kids would get anything useful out of the book, but they entirely grasped the greater themes. And honestly, doesn't humor sometimes make memorizing easier.

Violence: nothing graphic, but hey, these are Greek myths. Cyclops do get their eyes poked out.

Language: use of the word stupid.

Adult situations: Well, again, it's Greek myths we're talking about here. And Perseus' mom did have help from Zeus to conceive. But not to worry, it's handled quite well (at least my two didn't blink twice). Zeus arrives and goes "Poof!" and the next thing the princess says is, "Wow, I'm pregnant!" To which Zeus replies that now she'll never have to be lonely again. (All difficult material is handled in the same way.)

Highly recommend.

Pam~
Somewhere in the X-burbs


Michael Townsend's Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders
by Michael Townsend

Reading Information:
Word Count: 10,068
Page Count: 160
Accelerated Readier: 2.8 / points: .05
AR quiz: 138501

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

"Greek Hero" by Manning & Granstrom -- Good History Books for Kids

"Greek Hero" is another book that we're using to flesh out our studies of Ancient Greece. (The first was Susan Reynold's The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides.)

It's a book that presents it's information via a story, but unlike the Reynold's book, this story is of modern origins.

To get children started, the authors begin with a map of the 4th Century BC Greek empire. By this time it's an image the children and I are familiar with. They then introduce the cast of characters that children will find in the story. This is pretty much required as there's little time, in so brief a book, to go into in-depth character studies.

The premise is that a young soldier named Agathon was at the battle of Plataea (479 BC) and that after that decisive victory against the Persians that he is free to pursue more peaceful activities. This premise serves to acquaint children with the Persian/Greek wars and also allows the authors to whisk us from one Greek location to another as Agathon gets on with his life.

Chapter Headings
Who were the Greeks?
Meet the Greeks
Victory
Homeward Bound
Campfire Stories
Deliveries
Home Life
Theater
Temple of the Gods
School Days
Wedding Day
Greek Women
Market Place
Sparta
Olympia
The Games
End of the Greeks
What the Greeks Left Behind
Glossary & Index

As you can perhaps see, the nature of these chapters is to teach about everyday Greek life: trade and commerce, family and marriage, food and household affairs, and religion at that time

Now, as a story the book didn't work all that well for us. There just wasn't time in so few pages to provide continuity between activities. However, I still think it was a worthy attempt and a laudable approach as it made what could have been dry material on the everyday life, kid-friendly.

Some of the material we had covered before, but some was new to us. For example the authors explained more about how men and women dined, how women were treated, and how marriages were arranged. They even quoted a snippet of a poem from Sappho, the famous Greek poetess. In addition, they gave brief summaries of a couple of the Greek myths, so if your child isn't familiar with them, this might spark their interest.

The Skinny:::
A useful and informative book. The story didn't work for us, but it served well to make the children more interested in the everyday life of ancient Greeks.

Great artwork. If you look at Amazon's Look Inside pages, you'll see that the facts and story are presented in a lively manner.

Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs


Greek Hero (Fly on the Wall)
by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
  
• ISBN-10: 1845076834
• Look Inside
  
• amazon

Technical Stuff

Word Count: 2,704

Reading Level: 5.1

Interest Level: elementary

Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.1 / points: 0.5 / quiz: 125757

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides

The Backstory: Twenty-five Hundred years ago the Persians became angry with the Greeks and decided to declare war on them. As the Athenian and Persian armies faced off on the plain of Marathon, it became clear to the Greeks that they were greatly outnumbered and that reinforcements were needed.

They decided to ask Sparta for help. The only problem was that the city-state of Sparta was 140 rock strewn miles away and that consequently the use of horses was out of the question. They turned therefore to their runners and decided that Pheidippides was the man for the job. It took him 36 hours of nonstop running but he made it. Amazingly, he gave his message and then turned and ran back to the battle field.

The Spartans never turned up in time, but the Greeks miraculously won anyway. THEN, in what can only be called a major management snafu, Pheidippides was asked to run to Athens to tell everyone at home that their army was victorious. Needless to say, his electrolytes must have been seriously out of whack by then; after delivering his message, Pheidippides clutched his chest and died.

When we study an area like ancient Greek history, I always try to keep things lively by throwing in some great picture books with fabulous stories. The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides is one such book. Marvelous story and Susan Reynolds tells it so well that all of us were immediately drawn in.

THE SKINNY:::

Great story, well told. Information such as Greece's geology and Persia's motivation in the conflict is painlessly integrated into the story so that kids learn without even knowing it.

Rather than glorifying war, the author puts the emphasis on honor, steadfastness and physical fitness.

Bright and dramatic artwork by Daniel Minter is kid-friendly, and the costuming and settings are historically accurate (although abstract).

Finally, I love how Ms. Reynolds takes the sad ending -- Pheidippides sort of overdoes the running -- and turns it into a positive by showing that the man is still honored today, thousands of years later, whenever a Marathon is run.

The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides
by Susan Reynolds, Daniel Minter (Illus.)

Reading Information
Word Count: 2,404
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 5.5/ points: 0.5
AR quiz: 106017

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
  
• ISBN-10: 0807508675

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

Let's See Ancient Greece --Good History Books for Kids

The kids and I have embarked on a study of Ancient Greece and this is the first book I'm reviewing.

Pam

This little book provides a brief introduction to the Ancient Greeks. It begins with a map showing children where ancient Greece and it's colonies were situated, and then every-so-briefly touches upon diverse and unrelated topics like cities, religion, the Olympics, and play.

Despite the fact that some would find this scatter-blast approach insufficient, I liked the book, and thought that it provided a good jumping off point for our studies of the ancient world, being both appropriate for younger and older children.

Here are the Chapter Headings:

What Was Ancient Greece?
Who Were the Ancient Greeks?
What Was Important to the Ancient Greeks?
What Was the Major cities in Ancient Greece?
What Was Life Like for the Children?
What Was the Religion of Ancient Greece?
What Kind of Work Did They Do?
What Are the Olympics
How Do We Remember Ancient Greece?

Glossary
Did You Know?
Want to Know More?
Index

Features of Interest

I particularly like that Ms. Klingel took the time to say that children in ancient Greece played blindman's bluff, tag and ball games. I think this perfectly illustrates -- in a manner even the youngest children can understand -- that ancient peoples are not that different from us; and that our own habits and preferences can have origins that are very old indeed (i.e. that there is a historical heritage that links us to the ancients).

I also liked the section on 'what was important' to the Greeks and why. Ms. Klingel explained, for example, that sports were important not only because everyone likes to win, but because those same skills were needed for war.

Finally, my personal favorites were the drawings which I thought demonstrated the wondrous scale in which the Greeks built. Though constructed thousands of years ago, there was nothing 'primitive' about them, and I used this art to emphasize the fact that ancient people were just as clever as people today, and that their literature and philosophies and artwork are worth studying and understanding.




THE SKINNY:::
A nice broad introduction, there is no attempt in this book to provide a time line. Instead the book spends two pages on general information -- location and the Greek's antecedents (Minoans and Mycenaeans) -- before branching off into diverse topics.

The text is large. Drawings or pictures are on the left-hand page, with a paragraph or two on the facing page. Each chapter is only a page long so that it makes for a nice practice reader for those at the AR 3.9 level.

There is much to learn from the drawings if you study them. Be sure to point out the large scale in which the Greeks built.

Okay Read-Aloud.

Let's See Ancient Greece
by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed

Reading Information:
Word Count: 878
Page Count: 24
Accelerated Reading level: 3.9 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 62127

• Publisher: Compass Point Books (2002)
• ISBN-10: 0756502934
• amazon

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

Ancient Greece - Good History Books for Kids, a directory

The kids and I have embarked on a study of Ancient Greece and these are the books we've used. If any of them seem interesting to you, click on the picture and you can see what we thought of them.

Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs
































For printables and activities, see Activity Village - Ancient Greece for Kids