History News: The Roman News - Softcover

Langley, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0763641995 ISBN 13: 9780763641993

Publisher: Candlewick, 2009

Synopsis

"These entertaining, deftly organized books will make terrific light-hearted additions to curriculum units on ancient civilizations." — Publishers Weekly

Stop the presses! What if ancient civilizations had daily newspapers? And they were amusing and compellingly informative? They might just look like this innovative series of historical nonfiction, presented in a unique, kid-friendly format. 

Life in ancient Rome is presented in the form of a daily newspaper written at the time. As accessible as your morning paper, The Roman News will give young readers the unforgettable sense of actually being a citizen of an ancient nation.

Back matter includes a time line, an index, and a list of important emperors.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Langley, the author of many nonfiction books for children and adults, believes that "children's nonfiction should be exciting as well as informative, allowing for some free rein to the imagination."

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up. Browsable reads to whet the appetite. The "editors" (authors) of these two volumes have hit upon a unifying theme to chronicle the accomplishments of the ancients?a newspaper style. The Roman News and The Greek News are not exactly major city dailies; their format is more suggestive of a news magazine or at least a Sunday section highlighting fashion, sports, trade, food, and the military. Each page presents readable articles complete with headlines, boldface, column breaks, illustrations, and, often classifieds: instruments for sale; racing chariots built to order; reusable wax tablets. The front page (book cover) suggests a scope of approximately 1200 years, and the rise and fall of each empire is explained. A publisher's disclaimer also cautions that the ancients did not have newspapers (of course, they didn't even have paper!), but if they had, "they would have been reading...." Similar comments dart in and out of the news stories so that the entire tone is more human interest than ready reference. Such editorializing, however, only slightly distracts from the facts, which are accurate. Significant dates and events are all newsworthy. "Olympic Games Spoiled," "Caesar Stabbed," and "Hannibal Invades" are typical stories. The slightly oversized pages with decorative borders, sidebars, ads, and cartoons create an interesting layout. Many teachers would probably rejoice with the delivery of The Greek or Roman News as a project for a social-studies or whole-language unit. Kids can adopt this highly readable, albeit slightly sensationalized journalistic style. All in all, serviceable reporting.?Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0763641995
• ISBN 13: 9780763641993
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Various