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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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and #IMWAYR day
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Roman Soldiers: Discover the World of the Ancient Roman Army
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
While this books looks like a picture book, with its vaguely cartoon style illustrations, it is packed with information not only about the soliders and army, but also about every day life in Ancient Roman times.
Because most children don't get introduced to ancient history until middle school, this book does a great job of providing all the necessary details about Roman soldiers in a succinct way. It discusses who was able to serve, how armies were organized and equipped, how soliders trained and fought in battles, and what calvary soldiers did. There is even information about what happened during a siege (including information about not only catapults, but ballistae and onagers as well!), a bit about ancient medicine, and living conditions for soliders. There is a complete index at the end of the book, which is beautifully decorated with the same mosaic pattern found on the end papers.
While this is a larger format book (10.25 x 0.41 x 11.48 inches), the font is still very small, since there is so much information on each page. This gives plenty of room for detailed portrayals of uniforms, equipment, and fortifications, but does require some patience and good eyesight!
When I taught Latin years ago, one of the most popular historical topics was always anything about the Roman army. One of my students did a project that included a Romanc shield made out of a plastic sled and half a Leggs Egg! He wasn't the best student at the language, but his project was top notch. This book would have plenty of information to provide for similar projects on several different aspects of the Roman military. Even I have to admit that their fighting formations are rather clever.
Young historians will appreciate the British Museum's wealth of information in this book, and will also enjoy Ruzicka and Tuma's Ancient Rome for Kids, Ralph's Secrets of the Dead about Ancient Egypt, and Marx's Hide and Seek History: Ancient Greece. Sasek's This is Rome is a good overview of the general time period, and there are also plenty of Dorling-Kindersley books on many Ancient Roman topics.
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