Category Archives: Children’s fiction

Stone Age – Children’s Historical fiction

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

Historical fiction is a great way of finding out more about history. This list includes some great picture books and novels for young adults.

***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***

Stone Age Boy

This historical fiction picture book is a great introduction to archaeology and stone age people for younger children – for us it is the one essential book on the subject.

Read full review

Historical Fiction

Mini reviews of the ones we have read:

Picture Books

  • The First Dog (Reading Rainbow) by Jan Brett
    Another beautiful picture book – Stone age boy Kip encounters Paleowolf. Paleowolf would like some of his food, but Kip doesn’t want to share. But they are not alone, and Kip soon finds out that having a wolf for a friend has advantages. A lovely look at how the first dog might have been welcomed into our lives. The artwork not only tells the story, but gives clues as to what is happening next and the page borders are filled with pictures of stone age artefacts.

minnowandbear

  • Minnow and the Bear by Benedict Blathwayt
    A good picture book for a child that loves visual elements and tiny details, but disappointing as stone age historical fiction. Full review …
  • Adventures in the Ice Age (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey
    Comic book time travelling adventures. This entertaining series takes modern day children back in time. We have found this a really approachable way to learn about the stone age.
  • The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein
    Who drew the first cave art? A picture book imagining how the Palaeolithic world might have inspired a boy to create the first cave art.
    Vibrant and lively illustrations.

Chapter books

  • Wolf Brother: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Book 1 by Michelle Paver
    Book 1 of Chronicles of Ancient Darkness  (9+)
    Torak’s father is killed by a giant, possessed bear and he must find new friends and family and save the clans. Very detailed descriptions of stone age life in Northern Europe, particularly strong on natural history and animals of the time. It touches on fantasy as it brings the mages and belief in magic of these people to life. Although an enjoyable read even as an adult, the six book series feels as though something is lacking in the writing or pace of the books.

Older children/Young Adult

  • 11, 000 Years Lost (Amulet) by Peni R Griffin
    Young adult fiction. A modern Texan girl Ester discovers an 11,000 year old spearhead. Her fascination with the people who made it leads to her time travelling into the past. Adopted by a group of mammoth hunters, who are an interesting mix of characters she must learn how to survive in a very different world. What was life like as a mammoth hunter, can they find food, and survive? Will Ester ever find her way home? A really good read.

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

 

View Children’s Historical Fiction: Stone Age on Amazon Listmania

Do you have any comments on these or any other historical fiction set in the stone age?

 

Stone Age Boy

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

***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***

Stone Age Boy

This historical fiction picture book is a great introduction to archaeology and stone age people for younger children – for us it is the one essential book on the subject.

When a boy falls down a hole he finds himself back in the stone age. His new friend introduces him to stone age life.

This is a great children’s picture book – well written and beautifully illustrated and unusual in bringing historical fiction to younger children. Stone Age Boy is a great introduction to a very different way of life, showing how stone age people made tools, hunted, and cooked. A particularly nice touch is the beautiful pictures of stone age animals on the inside covers.

Whilst the simple text and story make it suitable for reading to younger children the detail in the central spread make for an useful introduction and discussion point for older children.

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Stone Age Boy

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My Name is Mina

Children's fiction, Home education

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My Name is Mina, by David Almond, is a wonderful, poetic story depicting home education. My Name is Mina is a rare book -beautifully written using language in an almost hypnotic way, quirky and with an instinctive understanding of unschooling/autonomous/informal education. Written as Mina’s diary, it reflects the main character’s creativity and curiosity. Mina loves words – the sound of them, their flow and patterns, reflected in the wonderful use of words, fonts and space throughout the book. She has a uncompromising sense of wonder at the world around her – from the blackbird chicks in her tree, to the sheer immensity of the universe. As a result Mina does not fit in at school. She is unwilling or unable to lose herself and her world of words and ideas in order to meet the requirements of school or fit in with the other children. So her mother takes her out of school to be home educated. The diary tells of her experiences leading up to leaving school, her coming to terms with the loss of her father and dealing with having been a square peg in a round hole, until eventually she comes to a place where she can reconnect with the world again. The descriptions of the quiet moments of contemplation and the time spent round the kitchen table making and talking with her Mum are something that strike a chord with my family.

History Resources: Books

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

I have always been fascinated by history. My eight year old is following in my footsteps. She is endlessly fascinated by people, their relationships and lives – in other words, their stories. For her history is a treasure box of people all in very different circumstances and the stories of their lives.

We use a lot of books to study history – many borrowed from friends or the library. But even so we have an ever growing collection of children’s history books. As with all educational resources we have found it vital to match the book, or programme or what ever to the child. So whilst another child might enjoy books with pictures of things or facts for my daughter it is all about people’s lives. The best history for her is presented as a form of storytelling. So we are always on the look out for history that is well written, with a good flow to the words and focused on people.

We use a mix of childrens resources and adult books which I use to expand my own knowledge to introduce ideas into conversations.

Books

World history:

Story of the world

A set of four books exploring world history through a narrative. These are part of the highly structured Classical Education system The Well-trained Mind. The system is far too adult-directed, and structured for us, but many home educators use the story books, as just that – story books. It is comprehensive, possibly a little overwhelming so for my daughter, who has never clicked with any but the first chapter. It has good international coverage, though the balance is rather skewed towards Judeo-Christian traditions for my tastes.

A Little History of the World

A beautiful narrative. This book focuses more on history of western world. More concise than Story of the World. If you only read one world history book this should probably be it. Suited to the older child or for adults as a basic history book.

English history:

My daughter is fascinated by Kings and Queens and their lives. So initially we focused on English history and the monarchy. Her absolute favourite book is Tony Robinson’s Kings and Queens. It is funny, and full of personal details that bring historical characters to life for her.

Factual books:

My daughter initially found most of the factual historical books too dry. I think that more will become interesting for her as she gets older. But a couple of series do stand out.

She really enjoys the Horrible Histories books. As an adult they seem a little too focused on the nasty side of life, but they provide a great introduction to everyday life in different historical periods.

One of our favourite publishers Book House produces the Danger Zone series – beautifully illustrated, highly entertaining and with books for many different periods (60 books all together!).

We have searched long and hard for good general

Historical fiction:

My daughter’s favourite genre is historical fiction. There are some great children’s historical fiction books out there ranging from picture books to teen books. (I recently read the stone age series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness for my own entertainment.) Here are a few of our favourites:

There are a number of series we like:

  • Tales of the dead – Whilst predominantly visually stunning factual books these include include a graphic story through the pages
  • Historical Stories – Historical fiction for younger readers
  • Sparks – A large series of historical fiction for younger readers
  • Terry Deary – Author of Horrible Histories has written historical fiction but we find these rather flat. We much prefer the sparks and historical stories.
  • Viking Vik – a series for younger readers about a viking boy

Historical biographies:

Historical biographies aimed at younger children read very much like fiction.

Usbourne readers have some good titles in their Famous Lives series, our favourite being Marie Antoinette.

I also find that I am reading more historical biographies – on the look out for interesting people that my daughter might be interested in.

This is just a quick round-up of some of the books we enjoy. Some we own – others are borrowed from the library – some of them time after time. There are many more to be added to the list. And many more other resources we use for history including TV programmes, music and museums.

Posted as a contribution to Liveotherwise’s HE resources carnival
What history books do you recommend?

Stone age resources

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Here I’ve gathered a few links to resources on the stone age.

Online Games

  • Show me Prehistory - links to online games and interactive content on prehistory produced by the UK’s museums and galleries, for children aged 4 to 11
  • See You See Me Skara Brae – interactive, animated games and educational videos about the prehistoric site of Skara Brae in the Orkney Isles
  • BBC Hands on History – Ancient Britain - take a journey back to ancient Britain with an animated day in the life of a stone age boy! Plus build your own stone circle and paint a story using cave art

Books

Factual

  • How to Live Like a Stone-Age Hunter by Anita Ganerisecrets of stonehenge
  • The Secrets of Stonehenge, by Mick Manning and Brita Granström
    This is a factual picture book aimed at older children charting the history of Stonehenge. Starting from the Mesolithic nomadic hunter-gatherers, through the first farmers to Stonehenge as a modern tourist destination. It examines how the henge was built, how it changed over time and what it may have been used for. See full review
  • DK Eyewitness Early People
    This is part of series of books characterised by being very comprehensive, with big visual spreads focusing on objects and artefacts, and incorporating manageable chunks of text. The information is fairly detailed and dense so is more suitable for older children (DK recommends age 9-14) or as a great way for an adult to get to grips with a subject. This book covers human evolution, hunter-gatherers, neolithic agriculture, bronze and iron age and has world wide coverage.
    It might suit a visual child with a love of objects at a younger age. Definitely one for use as a references book, because of the sheer level of detail and breadth of information.
  • Stone Age (Sounds of the Past) Clint Twist, Nicki Palin
    This is an unusual book – a novelty book with pop up and sounds. When we first got it I was worried that the sounds would impact on its readability, but actually it works really well! Open a double spread and you hear the sounds of a mammoth hunt, or neolithic farm. The sounds are a little over the top, with lots of things going on at once. (Book requires a 3 volt battery to make sounds.) But once the sound finishes playing it doesn’t repeat so you can explore the page and read the text that accompanies the pop-up pictures. Each double picture spread has lots of details to spot. And the next spread is an information page describing what you see in the pop-up pages. There is actually a surprising amount of information, and at a higher level than might be expected in a book with sounds and pop-up pictures! Covers origins in Africa, cave painters, mammoth hunters, neolithic farming and Stonehenge.

  • Avoid being a mammoth hunter! John Malam and David Antram
    Part of a wonderfully bright, informative, humorous and engaging series of history books. The illustrations in this make it very accessible to younger readers and they flow well being read aloud. The use of illustrations, and captions pack the book with a far higher level of information than the layout and illustrations suggest. We will always checkout this series, as have found it really useful time and time again.

  • Look Inside the Stone Age Board book by Abigail Wheatley and Stefano Tognetti
    A lift-the-flap book from Usborne books, about life from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Bright, engaging illustrations, with the added interactivity of flaps to lift and find out more behind. Aimed at 5+ and a good book for younger children.
  • The Stone Age: Hunters, Gatherers and Woolly Mammoths by Marcia Williams
  • Stone Age (Beginners) by Jerome Martin, Usborne Books
  • Prehistoric Britain (History of Britain) by Alex Frith, Rachel Firth, Ian McNee
  • My Best Book of Early People Margaret Hynes Kingfisher Books
  • Who Were the First People (Usborne Starting Point History)
  • Stone Age, Bone Age (Wonderwise) Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom An entertaining factual story book.
    Although factual rather than fiction, this picture book actually makes a reasonable substitute if you can’t get hold of our recommended book Stone Age Boy. The illustrations are bold, with strong colours and shapes, and the illustrator’s signature feelings of movement and life. It uses our favourite factual book format. A big beautiful picture, with a well written, poetic main text on the page. Plus additional information to read or not. This makes it as readable as any fictional picture book, and a good first introduction to palaeolithic stone age.
  • Hands-on History! Stone Age
    Another book combining information and craft projects.
  • Stone Age Sentinel (Newspaper History) Paul Dowswell and Fergus Fleming.
    Usborne Newspaper style look at the stone age.
  • The Stone Age News Fiona MacDonald
    Alternative newspaper style book on the stone age.
  • The Savage Stone Age (Horrible Histories) Terry Deary
  • The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully
    True story of four boys who discover cave paintings in the Lascaux caves.

Sticker books

Workbooks

Fiction

Children’s Historical Fiction – Stone Age – Booklist with recommendations and reviews of some of our favourite stone age historical fiction.

Videos and music

One of our favourite history TV programmes is Horrible Histories. Unfortunately it has tended to fall for the old stone age=stupid comedy line. More recently as the show has matured it has improved and there are a couple of good stone age/prehistory segments.

Board Games

Cookery

  • History Cookbook – A couple of palaeolithic video recipes, plus making fire and neolithic recipes. Plus picture galleries (series of picture plus simple text) on prehistoric life, food and health.
  • Ray Mears Wild Food , TV series on DVD and Wild Food, Ray Mears – looks at Mesolithic British food, through comparisons with surviving hunter gatherer cultures.

Teacher’s Resources

Places to visit

Online Information