Ancient Rome (TALES OF THE DEAD) [Hardcover]

Stewart Ross (Author), Inklink (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: TALES OF THE DEAD

In Tales of the Dead: Ancient Rome two children of a North African soldier are taken captive in raid on their village by the Roman army and are transported to Rome as prisoners of wars and sold into slavery. Follow their father as he sets out on an epic search for them, which leads him through the Roman underworld and eventually to the Coliseum, where his children are now working.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-7–This volume in the hybrid series focuses on life in ancient Rome as seen through the eyes of a family of Africans brought to the city as slaves. Most of the book is made up of DK's usual highly informative, well-illustrated factual descriptions. The edges of each spread tell the fictional story of the family in graphic-novel style. The nonfiction is engrossing, pulling readers into aspects of everyday life, with great cutaways of a variety of buildings and events. The story of a family torn apart, brought back together, and saved at the last moment is fairly unrealistic and unsatisfying compared to the great facts in the book. Readers seeking a graphic novel will be disappointed by the small part this format plays in the book. While overall it is an interesting combination that should appeal to reluctant readers, this title lacks the depth that most students will need for research purposes.–Dawn Rutherford, Kings County Library System, Bellevue, WA
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Review

A light and effortless way to fatten children with facts The Independent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN (July 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756611474
• ISBN-13: 978-0756611477
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 10 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An illustrated supplement to the study of Ancient Rome, April 2, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ancient Rome (DK Revealed) (Hardcover)

"Ancient Rome" is the second DK Revealed book that I have seen and my original comment that the see-through pages add very little to what is a solid book without them still applies. In this book there are eight see-through pages that reveal Roman soldiers storming a fort, gladiators locked in combat, Pompeii buried under the ash of a volcano, and a magnificent Roman villa. They provide some basic cut-away views, which are okay, but given what DK has normally provided in their richly illustrated books I was really expecting something spectacular. Indeed, even without the see-through pages "Ancient Rome" is a wonderful look at the glory that was Rome.

This volume is written by Peter Chrisp, author of over 50 children's history books, in consultation with Dr. Hugh Bowden, lecturer in Ancient History at King's College London. It traces the story of Rome from city to republic to empire, looking at legionaries on the march, the emphasis on bread and circuses, and the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum that have revealed so much about the life and leisure of the Romans. The illustrations include not only photographs of ancient ruins and artifacts, but also modern recreations and shots from movies like "Cleopatra" and "Ben Hur." Young readers will not get a detailed history of ancient Rome, but they will find lots of interesting details, which is why this is more of a supplemental volume to the study of Rome than a primary source.

As always pay attention to the captions for the wonderful illustrations because that is where a lot of these details pop up. The archeological perspective is especially interesting this time around, showing how some of these ancient wonders are uncovered. Other volumes in the DK Revealed series are devoted to "Ancient Egypt" and the "Human Body," and they may well be able to succeed on the additional level of those see-through pages.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DK does it again, July 17, 2008

By 

JS - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Eyewitness Workbooks: Ancient Rome (DK Eyewitness Books) (Paperback)

What can I say, I wish there were more of these dealing with history. My daughter loves them, and I don't have all the prep work of History Pockets.

9 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nice pictures! Lousy Propaganda!, March 12, 2007

By 

dd "dom il Sung" (Pyong-Yang, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancient Rome (History in Art) (Hardcover)

In his lousy children's book Ancient Rome (2005, Raintree, Reed Elsevier, Inc.) Peter Chrisp is so wildly anti-Christian that it boggles the mind. He describes Christ merely as some Jewish teacher, founder of some run of the mill sect. He laments more for the crosses scratched onto the Roman temple walls than for the countless Christians thrown to wild beasts.
I know that many historians write what they wish was true about early Christianity, but shouldn't they leave their inaccurate biases out of children's books?
If you are an atheistic or secular household, this book might be for you. Don't let me stop you! It will lull you and your children into a false impression that Christianity was nothing but some vague movement that had a penchant for defacing Roman Temples (post 400AD).
Maybe I'm being a little too hard on Mr. Chrisp. The fashionable writing these days is to minimize all aspects of Early Christianity or to portray it in the harshest light possible. But Jeeesh! doesn't getting eaten by lions get you any respect anymore??
Maybe I'm making mountains out of molehills here. The text of my review is about as long as the text he devotes to Early Christianity. But his book so willfully ignores any positive aspect of Early Christianity.