Category Archives: Learning

Celts and Roman Britain – Children’s Historical Fiction

Children's books, Children's fiction, History Books, , , , ,

There is an abundance of stories about Roman Britain, many focusing on the Celts versus Romans theme.

For younger readers:

Older children:

  • Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Capricorn Bracelet by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • Heather, Oak, and Olive; Three Stories by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Eagle of the Ninth (The Roman Britain Trilogy) by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • The Silver Branch (The Roman Britain Trilogy) by Rosemary Sutcliff

    More to come…

Family History

History, Learning, Our journey

We have been exploring our family history.

An important part of discovering your family history is asking questions.
I have created some profile sheets to be used to pull together some basic facts about family members.
These can form the basis of a family history file – with a form for each known member of the family. Find out the answers by asking the person, or if they aren’t available or are deceased, then ask other family members to help fill out the forms.

Familyhistoryform_Page_1Familyhistoryform_Page_3

Familyhistoryform_Page_2

Part 1:
Includes basic information about a person,and their relationships.

Part 2:
Comes in two versions. One is a simply a sheet to start writing interesting stories about the person. The second version is for deceased family members, and includes space for religion and details of their death.

I created two versions so parents can use the simpler one if their children are concerned about family members dying.

Factual Children’s Books – Celtic or Iron Age Britain

Books and Magazines, Children's books, History Books, Learning, , , ,
Celtsceltsusborne (Usborne Beginners) by Leonie Pratt
A simple introduction for younger children. A bright, well-illustrated, clear book for younger children and beginner readers.
onthetrailceltsOn the Trail of the Celts in Britain by Peter Chrisp (Franklin Watts)
This book looks at Iron Age Great Britain (not Ireland) through the archaeological evidence, featuring sites and finds. As a result it focuses on types of buildings – and is really good at showing the diversity of building types – whether in it be hill-forts, roundhouses in wood or stone, crannogs or brochs. There are also spreads on farming, chalk figures, religion, burying the dead and human sacrifice.It rounds up with information about the Roman invasion, and the long term survival of Celtic languages.
There is a glossary, and timeline. And unsurprisingly for a book based on archaeological sites, a list of places to visit.
The pages use large scale photographs of the archaeological finds, and sites including reconstructions such at Butser Ancient Farm. The text is fairly large, and flows well over the pages. It makes good use of maps to show sites.
historydetectiveceltsThe History Detective Investigates: The Celts by Philip Steele
This books starts with a wider look geographical look at Celts, starting with different ‘Celtic’ peoples across Europe and the origins of the this cultural group. 
It then focuses on British Celtic people, looking at everyday life – rulers, war, clothes, homes, food, metalworking, religion. It then looks what happened when the Romans came and the impact of their leaving. It discusses how we know about the Celts, and has several ideas of projects. It rounds off with a Glossary, answers to the questions and further sources of informaiton. 

Pages are packed with information. Though good size photographs feature too. Box outs are used to personalise the text with quotes, and for ideas for Detective Work – things to think about or do. Some pages have a question to follow up on. 

This series aims to provide a starting point for further thinking, and projects.
by Philip Steele (Author)

British Iron Age / Celts – Children’s Historical Fiction

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , , , ,

There is very little historical fiction on the Iron Age before the coming of the Romans.

  • sunhorsemoonhorseSun Horse, Moon Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff
    Unusually this is set in Iron Age before the Romans. Although the story is concerned with inter-tribal warfare, the drama comes less from this, and more from the tension between the practical world of the warrior and and the spiritual world of the artist.
    Lubrin Dhu is the third son of the chief, and sees the world differently to others, through artist’s eyes. This is a bittersweet, story of friendship, duty and sacrifice in a tribal culture devoted to the horse.
    It is written in Rosemary Sutcliff’s signature poetic style. It is a shorter story than many of her books, and as a result makes a good introduction to Rosemary Sutcliff’s work for those unused to her style – descriptive language and long sentences.

 

 

More children’s historical fiction set in the bronze age (we haven’t read these yet)

Many of the stories from this period are viewed through Irish and Welsh mythology – the surviving tales written down in medieval times.

The Ulster Cycle:

Cornish Mythology:

 

Picture Book Month 2014

Children's books, Children's fiction,

PBMLOGO-COLOR_WEBRES

Each November celebrates Picture Book Month.
On the Picture Book Month website, and through its email newsletter you can find out about many different people’s ideas for why picture books are important.

Here though I’d like to share some of our favourite picture books based on the topics in this year’s Picture Book Month calendar.

Elephants

Kidogo: The Littlest Elephant

by Anik McGrory

Many picture books feature a character in the form of an animal, but that are in essence people. We on the other hand have a fondness of picture books about animals, that mostly show the animals as themselves.  Hence our love of the Nature Storybooks.
Kidogo is somewhere in between. A little elephant who feels dwarfed by the world around him. We particularluy love the trail of interesting savannah animals he meets on his way.

See Kidogo on Amazon

bashiBashi, Elephant Baby

by Theresa Radcliffe (Author), John Butler (Illustrator)

The story of a newborn elephant’s first days in the wild. Always great to find a book that reflects the real life stories of an animal. We haven’t yet read this one, but we really enjoy The Snow Leopard, by the same author and illustrator. The images are beautiful, really evoking the landscape and a close intimacy with the animal itself. John Butler’s illustrations are definitely in the realm of wildlife artist and they really stand out for their detail, and character.

See more of John Butler’s work
See Bashi, Elephant Baby on Amazon

thunderfootLittle Elephant, Thunderfoot

by Sally Grindley (Author), John Butler (Illustrator)

Another animal story beautifully illustrated by John Butler. This time written by Sally Grindley. Newborn Thunderfoot starts to explore his world, getting to grips with everyday family life. But his herd faces tragedy. This book deals with issues of death and poaching.
See more of John Butler’s work
See Little Elephant, Thunderfoot  on Amazon

Travel

offtomarketOff to Market

by Elizabeth Dale (Author) and Erika Pal (Illustrator)

This year in the library we discovered this charming picture book about a bus journey in Africa.
The bus is off to market today. Everyone wants to get on. The pictures are full of lively little details, and we had great fun spotting all the different people, and things getting on the bus. It is a morality tale about how taking the initiative and helping others can overcome problems.

See Off to Market on Amazon

Eyewitness Guides

Children's books, History Books, Nature Books,

Whenever we are looking at a topic I find that I end up looking to see if there is an Eyewitness book (or Eyewitness Guide) on the subject, and if I see one in a charity shop then I will inevitably buy it. Though it has to be said that at least so far this is far more for my benefit than my daughters’.

This series covers a wide range of subjects. They successfully walk a fine line between being very visual and being very detailed. The spreads break up information into one main section. And the rest of the page features bite-size text and lots of photographs, often of artefacts. With over 60 pages these books go into lots of detail of different aspects of the topic covered.

We recommend these for adults getting to grips with a subject and for older children. For younger children (pre-teen) we find that they are too detailed, unless a child has a particular passion for the subject. They might however suit a visual child, or one with a particular interest in physical things at a younger age.

List of Eyewitness Books on DK website

Ottoman Empire resources

History, History Books, ,

Here I’ve gathered a few links to resources on the Ottoman Empire

Online Resources

Books

Factual

Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul (Cities through time), by Robert Bator (Author), Chris Rothero (Illustrator)

There isn’t much available on Ottomans and Istanbul, but this is a great book. It is packed with information charting the history of the city Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul.
It is aimed at older children, and confident readers, but we found it an informative reference for adults, and accessible enough to read parts out to younger children, for whom the whole book would have been too much. It has sections of fairly dense text, but this is balanced out by large, beautiful illustrations. Includes a timeline.
It is comprehensive, with recounting key events in the city’s history, and with lots of details of daily life.

Fiction

Children’s Historical Fiction – Ottoman Empire 

Children’s Historical Fiction – Ottoman Empire

Books and Magazines, Children's books, Children's fiction, History Books, Learning, , , , ,

Although one of the world’s longest running and most powerful empires we haven’t found much on the Ottoman Empire. But we have found a couple of gems.

Abraham Hannibal and the Battle For the Throne

Frances Mary Somers Cocks (Author), Eric Robson (Illustrator)

The second book in the Abraham Hannibal series, this quirky,  fascinating book explores life as a slave gardener in the palace of the Ottoman Sultan in the early 1700s.

Read full review of Abraham Hannibal 

LeylaBlackTulipLeyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands)

Alev Lytle Croutier (Author)

Set in 1720′s this charts the story of a young girl tricked into slavery and taken to the Sultan’s palace in Istanbul, the heart of the Ottoman Empire.

Read full review of Leyla

 

Other books we haven’t read:

Leyla: The Black Tulip

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , ,

LeylaBlackTulip

Leyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands)

By Alev Lytle Croutier

Set in 1720’s this charts the story of a young girl tricked into slavery and taken to the Sultan’s palace in Istanbul, the heart of the Ottoman Empire.
We really enjoyed the way the book balances the hardships of slavery with the security and opportunity of the harem. Leyla is desperately poor and the harem provides her with a living, but at the price of her freedom and family. It manages to avoid the harem cliché of women competing for the sultans’s favours and focuses on the ordinary everyday life of women in harem. It glosses over the reality of the eunuchs, but with enough details to make it realistic enough for those with some understanding – a cleverly balanced line that allows for further examination of these issues, or not, depending on your own judgement.  The authors’ expertise on the harem shines through. The focus on the gardens and the tulip provide another layer of historical interest that gives the book an additional flavour.
See on Amazon

 

History research

History, ,

I am increasingly finding that our history journey is taking us places that I have never been before.

So here are some thoughts on how our approach to history is working out this year.
Our history group structure and my eldest’s interests are combining to challenge me. It is an interesting journey.
I want to provide my daughter (now 10) with accessible, interesting information to fuel her love of history – but we are definitely stepping outside my own knowledge, and the realm of easily available resources. So thought it would be interesting to chart a bit about how my preparation for history is meeting the challenge.

As a bit of background we are basically autonomous home educators. Two of us have an interest in history and we run a small history group.

2014 so far:

January – Europe

We were looking at a topic for Europe between 1450-1750ish and my daughter decides on Germany. Germany! What do I know about Germany? Turns out that between Roman period and World Wars – not a lot. Though that has now been rectified to some extent, with a concise history of Germany from the library, a copy of a friend’s Readers Digest Illustrated History of the World Discovery and Religious Crisis 1492 to 1648 and some Internet searching. We didn’t , unsurprisingly find any children’s books on this time and place, though our World History reference, History of the World came up trumps.

I cobble together a timeline of Germany history between 1450 and 1750. Makes me very aware of how little European history we study in England since we had never heard of one of the worst wars on European soil – the Thirty Years War.

Unfortunately it doesn’t grab either of us – except that it starts with some guys being thrown out of a window.
So now if feels like I have some idea of how to approach the research for a topic, but have yet to find a really good way of presenting information in a way that appeals to my daughter.

February – Islamic Empires

This choice is fairly easy – my daughter has been interested in Byzantine Empire, and Constantinople in turn, and something about the Ottomans has caught her attention.
Now as with Germany there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of readily available resources suitable for a 10 year old. So this month I’m planning to have a go at producing our own.
But there does appear to be lots more potentially appealing information, that I can use to create something.
E has an interest in the stories of people, the more powerful and female the better. And we find a couple of Ottoman Empire historical fiction gems.

I start with general searches –  and with much history I find wikipedia to be a great starting place – the images are Creative Commons so can be used without worrying about copyright if and when I get around to sharing them online. And for rulers there is a nice box out with many of the details needed to make sense of their lives in the context of a dynasty – parents, spouses, and children. E.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_the_Magnificent