Horatius at the Bridge

Thousands of years ago in what is now Italy, there was a real soldier named Horatius who defended the last bridge into Rome from invaders. It was the end of the Age of Kings, and Horatius helped usher in the Roman Republic, giving citizens power over their own society. In ancient times, people would sing songs and write poems about heroic and memorable events like this. The Roman historian Livy wrote a few paragraphs about it, but there was no epic poetic remembrance for the valiant one-eyed Horatius...

That is, until about two hundred years ago, when a man from England named Macauley read Livy's ancient account of Horatius and the events that led up to the start of the Roman Republic. Mr. Macauley decided to write a poem himself-in a style that sounded like it was written by Ancient Romans.

The present book was inspired by Livy's History of Rome and Macauley's 1842 Lays of Ancient Rome-a collection of narrative poems--one of which was called Horatius at the Bridge. Artist and storyteller Mike Bolan combines these literary historical sources with his imaginative greyscale graphite drawings to bring this engaging introduction to history to young people.

MIKE BOLAN has a BFA from the University of Delaware, where he was mentored by the Caldecott award-winning illustrator Jerry Pinkney. Mike has collaborated with the famed comic satirist Jack Davis on numerous books and book covers. Since 2012, Mike has been the publisher and owner of Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs, a scholarly publishing company specializing in literary criticism and critical editions of literature of the Spanish Siglo de Oro. Mike got the idea for this book from his wife Maria, who teaches "Horatius at the Bridge" to her library students every year. This is his fourth book for children.