Ancient Mesopotamia Book

I realized recently that I haven't been using the encyclopedias with Story of the World. And it is good to have them, since SOTW has so few pictures. I have been trying to get good supplementary books at the library, but a lot of the book are geared for older kids. Even then there aren't many books (in my library) about the region in ancient times.

I found a treasure in Mesopotamia: Iraq in Ancient Times (Picturing the Past). It has been a perfect review for parts in chapters one (the first cities,) three (Sumerian cuneiform writing,) five (Sargon and Akkad,) six (Ur,) seven (Hammurabi's fair laws,) and eight (war with Assyria.) It has illustrations with real-artifact pictures connected to them, two-page spreads on different topics that cover the region like Irrigation and Farming (did you know date trees are only male trees or female trees? I didn't!) Crafting, Trade, Writing, etc. Each spread has an "How Do We Know?" box that applies to that topic specifically. I think this book is pretty perfect for Builder Boy's understanding and maturity level, though we did skip the "Great Death Pit" pages. It also has web links for all the topics, though I didn't try all of them, and most of them didn't work for me. The British Museum Mesopotamia website was cool.

It is simple and short enough that we read through it in two days, but there was enough review that Builder Boy could connect it all together, and enough new stuff to keep him interested. I wasn't going very in-depth with the last 4 chapters, so this was a really great. I highly recommend it!

(For sensitive/young children, please pre-read the sections on The Great Death Pit, Warfare, The King's Laws, and Empire.)


(Picturing the Past) Mesopotamia: Iraq in Ancient Times by Peter Chrisp, Enchanted Lion Books. ISBN 1-59270-024-1, Dewey # 935.

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(I don't get paid for this review.)

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