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
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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