"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.
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.
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.
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
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