Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

November 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-These volumes focus on the everyday lives of a variety of people, including different social and economic classes, women, children, and slaves and servants. The books describe how people were housed, where they worked, what they ate, and how they worshipped and learned. All are well written in clear, informative prose that draws on well-documented primary sources, which are quoted in the text and excerpted in sidebars. The titles are objective about the negative and positive parts of each culture. The average-quality maps, period reproductions, and photographs add little to the texts. More focused on ordinary people than the books in Lucent's "The Way People Live" series, these titles will promote deeper understanding of societies and groups that, for better or worse, influenced world history. Solid choices for secondary collections.

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
This series emphasizes social history and forefronts family life, community organization, religious practices, education systems, and inventions. Pull-out boxes define some words, but a glossary would have been helpful. Translated snippets from famous texts are short and useful, whereas the illustrations are perfunctory at best. Each volume is adequately researched, offering standard information and perspectives. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

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