Tag Archives: Ottoman Empire

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