Ancient Japan (Si) (Step Into (Lorenz Books)) [Hardcover]

Fiona MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Series: Step Into (Lorenz Books)

Appealing, authoritative history books that capture the atmosphere and reality of the world's great cultures and civilizations. Inspiring and relevant craft projects further involve the reader in an active learning experience. Valuable and lively reference for school and home.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Lorenz Books (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185967917X
• ISBN-13: 978-1859679173
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #906,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book- Great ideas for kids w/Japanese crafts & art, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ancient Japan (Si) (Step Into (Lorenz Books)) (Hardcover)

This book is an amazing resource book for a teaching unit onJapan. It is written with consultants from the Japanese Festival Society. They have arts and crafts ideas that are easily made by children.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT....look for "Sword and Samurai", June 23, 2007

By 

homeschooler (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancient Japan (Si) (Step Into (Lorenz Books)) (Hardcover)

This book is part of an excellent series of non-fiction books for children on cultures from the past. While the title of this edition states "ancient", the focus seems to be on the period of the bushido and samurai (it does briefly cover the Jomon period). Fiona Macdonald did a great job, as usual.

There is an abundance of beautiful, full-color pictures (mostly photographs, but a few illustrations) of famous art, buildings, and maps on every page. Each two page spread covers a specific topic and is organized with a paragraph or so of text surrounded by the photographs with interesting facts or expanations. It does not appear too cluttered and again, these pictures are almost entirely real examples of the culture, not just illustrations. A descriptive timeline with is also included on the preliminary pages. The glossary and index are useful too.

Fifteen do-able activities/crafts/recipes are found throughout the book: samurai helmet, shell game, rice balls, carp streamer, screen painting, homemade paper, Noh mask, votive dolls, ikebana flower arrangement, fan, fox netsuke, origami box, calligraphy, kite, and clay tea bowl.

NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT PART...this is out of print, but apparently the publisher joined this title by Fiona Macdonald with Step into the Chinese Empire Chinese Empire (Step Into Series) by Philip Steele to forge a 128 page book called SWORDS AND SAMURAI. I've ordered it Swords and Samurai: The Ancient Warrior Culture of the East and hopefully my information is accurate!

I also highly recommend Exploration into Japan (Exploration Into) for a more in-depth, yet still interesting history of Japan for kids. If you're looking for more crafts and some info, try Japan (Make it Work! History). Also, The Japanese (Ancient World) has some good information about the culture of Japan as well.