About This Book:
With more than 80 lift-the-flaps, this engaging book introduces readers to incredible stories, supersititions, and astonishing aspects of ancient Greece.
With more than 80 lift-the-flaps and with flaps under flaps, this book introduces readers to the truth behind some of ancient Greece’s most incredible stories and superstitions. Children will learn about the society of ancient Greece, its sports, social hierarchy, and so much more. This immersive book unearths some of the most astonishing aspects of an illustrious culture.
*Review Contributed By Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer*
Gorgeous Way to Learn about the Ancient Greeks
This is a gorgeous book crammed with lots of facts, and the lift a flap format is constantly fascinating. This is more of an introduction that a systematic investigation of ancient culture, and centers nicely on the archaeology and what various finds have told us about the Greeks as well as mythology. One of my favorite pages was the Labors of Hercules, arranged rather like a clock, with a flap for each one of the tasks he completed. There’s a nice spread on “Ancient Greek Geeks” which covers all of the various scholarly pursuits like literature, astronomy, math, zoology, and philosophy, and also one on war and combat. This finishes with an exploration of daily life that gives an updated view of slavery, as well as a timeline.
Marx’ illustrations have a lot of tradional red, black, and tan in them (think red figure and black figure pottery), but also have some lovely blues and violets that made me think of the Disney Hercules movie. There are a lot of flaps, sometimes two deep, that will entice children to spend a lot of time looking through this book. Some of these were a little hard to open; I would recommend going through the book with a think but blunt letter openener and opening all of the flaps before giving it to any children, to cut down on frustration as well as damage.
There are not a lot of picture books about Ancient Greece, and this would be fun for younger readers to page through, although the reading level is more suited to older children. If you need more than one book on the topic, I’d also look at Ancient Greece for Kids (Unfolding the Past, 2), DK’s Eyewitness: Ancient Greeks, and (for readers who want more information and fewer pictures), The Thrifty Guide to Ancient Greece: A Handbook for Time Travelers by Stokes and Bonet.