Customer Reviews

Usborne Time Traveler

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is recommended for ages 9-12, but my 6-year-old ate it up and my 4-year-old enjoyed it too. I bought it because my girls are going through a knights and castles thing, and this was recommended as a good place to learn about them. I thought we'd just read that section and put it on the shelf until the other subjects came up. Well my 6-year-old saw things differently. She loves this book. She loves the way it is laid out and what she is learning from it. She had no interest in Vikings or Romans or Egyptians before this, but now she wants more on all these topics. And it is a fun book for me to read too. It is reminding me of things I hadn't learned since I was a child, and the diagrams are so clear that maybe I am learning things better than I did when I was a child.

WOW, this is a compilation of four different civilizations, it includes ALOT of information on understanding how these ancient groups lived. I have learned alot of interesting facts every time I haved looked through the pages. The illustration in it is amazing, there is not a corner left empty in this huge book!

I was disappointed with the revised version of Usborne Time Traveler. I own all four of the 1993 edition books and expected this to be a compilation of those paperback books into one hardback book. Although this 1998 version still has a lot of information, a lot of the information is left out from the previous editions. It is missing significant amounts of the main text on each page. There used to be captions for almost everything going on in the full-page illustrations, but now it has up to 50 percent less text per page. There are also some sidebar pictures missing. The coloring of the drawings gives the impression that the artwork is crisper in this new version. It is less cluttered looking, but this is at a cost of less historical explanation. It is still an enjoyable book if you don't know what you're missing, but if you are replacing older editions you'll be disappointed. I am seeking out a used copy of the 1993 version (also available compiled in hardback form if you look hard enough).

When I was boy in the 1980s this book was my absolute favourite. At the time it was only available as four seperate paperbacks, but I must have signed each one out of the library ten times! The diagrams and illustrations are jam-packed with information. I used to love books with a great deal of detail, and this one exemplifies that approach.

It is a MUST-BUY if you have a child with even a passing interest in history!

I should probably order another copy of this book because my children have such a hard time sharing it! As the product description states, the book covers four historical civilizations by introducing the reader to a family who lived during each time period. The drawings are amazingly detailed and, as another reviewer stated, they fill each and every page. There is so much information, but it is engaging rather than intimidating, even for my five year old son and seven year old daughter. The various members of the families in each time period take us home, into the kitchen, to play, to school, to work, to the market, to battle, to a feast, to a farm, and of course, to Pyramids, castles, the Colosseum, and on and on. We get a really informative window into what the people of each time and place had available to them (waterways, food, housing materials, weaponry) and learn how they used each to their advantage. All of this is presented in bright colors and kid-friendly illustration (cartoonish, rather than text book looking- sort of reminds me of Where's Waldo?). They could look at it for hours. We have used this as an invaluable resource for our Classical style homeschooling, but the children often look at it apart from school time. I highly recommend it to anyone for any elementary aged child.

My 9 year old son likes the book. His interest in nonfiction books is not high but he said this book is actually interesting.

I originally purchased this as a resource to use in homeschooling my six year old. We are studying ancient cultures, and I feel that the Usborne format is appealing to younger children. However, when it arrived my ten year old grabbed the book and spent the next four hours reading!

The book is hard covered and is really four smaller books that have been put together to form this one large one. It contains a section on Knights and Castles, Viking Raiders, Rome and Romans, and Pharaohs and Pyramids. Each section has you sest your time helmet to travel to your destination and then introduces you to the people of the time. Food, burial, dress, and every day life are covered in the sections. The buildings are shown from both the outside and a cut-away to the inside. There is a ten question quiz at the end of each part of the 130 page book. The answers to the quizzes are in the back of the book.

It's really a lovely book to compliment a homeschooling curriculum or just for a child who loves to learn. I'm very pleased with the purchase.

This is a very fun book, full of great information. The pictures are bright and well illustrated. My children love looking at and learning from Usborne books. This book is 4 books in one. It covers knights and castles, Vikings, Rome and Romans,and Pharaohs and pyramids. This would be great for your 5 to 12 year olds to help them learn about these important time periods.

Even before he could read this on his own, my son would pour for hours over this book, occasionally stopping to ask a few questions. There were a couple of pictures that he found a little disturbing, but then, history is disturbing. (I personally felt that they were age appropriate, and it didn't come up again later.)

This book is a favorite of ALL of my kids, both boys and girls. We originally bought it for the Sonlight 1st grade home schooling program. My older boys kept "borrowing" the book because it had information on Vikings, Knights, Romans and Egyptians. The younger girls loved seeing what clothes people would wear and what houses families used to live in. This book has lots of information in it that is very interesting and understandable to both boys and girl. The four sections focus on a time showing thru both words and text
- What people eat and wore?
- What their towns or cities were like?
- What their civilizations are still famous for?
- What their families looked like?
- What did their kids do for schooling?

Highly recommended. We have bought a few copies as gift for friends for 6th thru 10th birthdays.