How Would You Survive As an Ancient Roman?

Gr 5-8-These series entries offer quick bits and pieces of information on various early civilizations and purport to rank readers' survival chances through knowledge of these cultures. While the style is intentionally light, the supposition that superficial knowledge can assure survival may be viewed with skepticism. Additionally, the answer key does not always give full textual references, e.g., in explaining the importance of feeding one's ``Ka'' in Ancient Egypt, the page referred to does not totally clarify the answer, and readers must go to the index to find further explanations on other pages. Some of the entries do not clearly differentiate fact from fable. In Ancient Roman, it is never indicated that the story of Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome after being raised by a she-wolf, is legend. In all three books, the double-page spreads, one per topic, are filled with large and small full-color illustrations, lengthy captions, blocks of text, and related questions, resulting in a cluttered appearance. Susan Margeson's Viking (Knopf, 1994); Vikings (Time-Life, 1993); Simon James's Ancient Rome (Viking, 1992); Pamela Odijk's The Egyptians (Silver Burdett, 1989); and Stuart Fleming's The Egyptians (New Discovery, 1992) are all preferable titles.-Anita Palladino, Finkelstein Memorial Library, Spring Valley, NY

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.