The Silk Road: 20 Projects Explore the World's Most Famous Trade Route (Build It Yourself series) [Paperback]

Kathryn Ceceri (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2011 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Build It Yourself series

Shedding light on a legendary passage between the Mediterranean Sea and China, this overview outlines the history, geography, and people of the Silk Road region. Spanning from Roman times until the Age of Exploration, this noteworthy route helped spread different forms of technology, various cultural traditions, and even academic theories across two continents and beyond. The merchants, conquerors, pilgrims, and diplomats who set out on the fabled route in search of wealth, power, and knowledge—including Marco Polo himself—are also documented, illustrating the vast deserts, towering mountain peaks, warring tribes, and marauding bandits they endured. Through entertaining activities that use everyday materials, this guide enables children to re-create the clothes and foods of the nomadic tribes and city dwellers who made their homes along the historical Silk Road. Illuminating a mysterious and more obscure part of the world, this narrative celebrates the Silk Road’s important role in the development of human civilization.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Following the lead of the more than two-dozen other titles in the Build It Yourself series, this survey uses a select but diverse set of handicraft projects to enhance general accounts of the Silk Road�s major cultures, geographical features, arts, inventions, and long history. The central narrative is supported with maps, a time line, and a generous set of further resources and may be more valuable to researchers of the Silk Road�s past, present, and significance than the projects, which range from making lagman noodles from scratch to building a real abacus to constructing a model yurt to keeping a travel journal modeled on the itchy-footed Ibn Battuta�s, as well as covering effective techniques for market bargaining. The projects vary radically in difficulty and often require a certain level of artistic skill or such hard-to-find materials as old bicycle-tire tubes and clear flat glass marbles. Though monochrome illustrations that are largely redrawn pictures of artifacts or scenery give this overview a utilitarian look, the topic is intriguing, and the volume will appeal to an interested reader. Grades 4-6. --John Peters --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Introduces young readers to this history and collects facts, mini-biographies of people like Marco Polo or Genghis Khan, and information about ordinary life to make history come alive in multiple dimensions . . . projects, such as how to make a travel journal, a road map, or an abacus, further engage young readers."  —ForeWord Reviews

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Nomad Press (January 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934670626
• ISBN-13: 978-1934670620
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #563,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Children's Books > History > Asia

More About the Author

Kathy Ceceri is a Senior Editor for GeekMom.com and a Core Contributor to the award-winning GeekDad blog. In addition to her fun and educational activities books, she also writes about parenting, family travel and crafts for newspapers and magazines, including Disney's FamilyFun and Home Education Magazine. Kathy would be happy to visit your school, library or youth center with one of her exciting hands-on science and history-based workshops. Visit her website at http//www.craftsforlearning.com.