You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece by Fiona MacDonald and David Antram

A fun way to get your essential bits of history 

As a history teacher, I think just about all of history is fascinating - the cultural tidbits, the technology, the religious beliefs, the wars, the governments. It's all fascinating! But...convincing my students is another matter entirely.

This series does an excellent job of looking at history from an interesting point of view and showing why it was tough. The art is accessible and just cartoonish enough to not be one of those boring illustrations that fill history books and plenty realistic enough that to clearly see and understand what is going on (for example, the women who are weaving on pages 16 & 17 are cartoonish but their loom looks pretty realistic).

In You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece, you learn a lot about slavery in general that can be applied to any time - the drudgery and humiliation, the loss of freedom and the uncertainty. There is also a lot of Ancient Greece-specific information such as their attitudes towards foreigners and women.

I'd recommend this book for students in grade 4 or higher. I'd even recommend it for adults that want a little pain-free learning!

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on June 9, 2009.

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