Customer Reviews

The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a large-format book, about 9 X 12, and the pages are packed with information.

Each page reflects a different culture with different customs, architectural styles, and ethnicities, moving from China east to Constantinople. The illustrations are well-drawn and offer a lot of information in their own right; the text is a wonderful look at cultural communication and long-distance travel.

The reading level is not difficult, but the interest level is vast -- 2nd grade to adult.

This is a truly wonderful book that helps children understand an important part of the history of China. The book has a map of the road the caravan travels, describes the major stops along the way, and explains the difficulties and hardships these travellers encountered. I especially enjoyed the description of the topography the caravan crosses, as I believe it gives children a great mental picture for them to understand the great diversity of geography in China.

This book was included in a Maryland Department of Education lesson plan for teaching the Silk Road. I purchased the book for this purpose and is correlated very well to the lesson plan. Excellent artwork. Valuable content. A good geography storybook

I used this book with my 1st grader when studying ancient civilizations. She really enjoyed learning about the different stops along the Silk Route. It is a wonderful introduction to what it would have been like to travel such a long distance at that time. This book gives detail, but not so much detail that it is confusing. One of my daughter's favorite parts was copying the different letters for Silk in 4 different languages. She now has this book in her room and frequently chooses to read it.

We've talked about the Silk Route before, and this book was a delightful find to bring it together.
The thing that was very exciting for us is that we've been studying the Tang Dynasty, (after stumbling on a lovely book called, Maples in the Mist, about the poetry of that time). This book starts there, in Chang'an, during the Tang Dynasty, which makes a lot of sense.
The Tang Dynasty was about 400 years of peace, art, music, poetry, and intellectual advancements. The book doesn't go into this, but Chang'an was, at it's height, the biggest, grandest, and most advanced city in the world. There were a million people living inside of the gates and another million outside of it. It was a center of international trade. As one book said, "At the time of Chang'an's glory, London was just a market town of a few thousand people". You'd find people from everywhere, of all races, religions, and speaking many languages.
If you study the Tang Dynasty first, or at the same time that you read this book, it will really bring the subject alive.
I recommend a book, (that I got at our library), called, "China's Tang Dynasty", by Heather Millar. The library may have it, in the Juv non-fiction section, or Amazon probably has it.
When you reach the end of the journey in this book, with a new appreciation of how harrowing trade and travel was back in those days, you'll arrive in Byzantium, which can lead you and your child into a new area of study.
This is a great book, told as if you are traveling the route yourself. The illustrations are lovely and I like the way they told the story.
I think I'll buy a copy, even though we can get it at our library.

This book was built on a sound concept, but the finished result does not quite deliver. The text is not very engaging, rather it is impersonal and borders on dry. The "caravan" is nameless and faceless as well as the "merchants" along the way. The progression through the Silk Route and the accompanying artwork is very well done. The factual background is great. The book could have been great...but will have to settle for good...and very useful due to lack of abundant children's resources on the subject.