Picture Books ( read aloud)
What’s Your Angle Pythagoras? A Math Adventure
Julie Ellis And Phyllis Hornung
From the Product Description
Young Pythagoras can t seem to stay out of trouble. Every time he tries to help, people get angry. What s a curious kid to do? On a trip to Egypt, Pythagoras curiosity helps him discover the secret of the right triangle. An explanation of how the Pythagorean Theorem works with clear descriptions and fun experiments to copy and see for yourself
Galen My Life in Imperial Rome
Marissa Moss
From the Product Description
The life of a slave is the only life that twelve-year-old Galen knows, and though he hopes for a better one, he's making the best of it. He practices painting whenever he can, finds adventures with his best friend, Micio, and just might solve a mystery that will improve the life of everyone around him--and change the course of history.
Galen, from the acclaimed author of the Young American Voices series, is a riveting first-person account of a young boy's life in ancient Rome. The first book in the Ancient World Journal series.
Brave Cloelia
Jane Louise Curry And Jeff Crosby
From the Product Description
In his History of Early Rome, the ancient historian Livy tells the story of a Roman girl named Cloelia who was taken prisoner by Larth Porsena, the king of the Etruscans. Cloelia came up with a daring plan of escape from her Etruscan captors and in the process won the admiration of all Rome and of the Etruscan king himself, who freed her. For saving her city, a grateful Rome set up a statue in her honor, the first such ever to be put on the Sacred Way.
Easy Readers ( ages 6-9)
Hour at the Olympics
Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca
From the Product Description
No girls allowed at the Olympic Games!
That's the rule when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to ancient Greece. But when Annie tells Jack to go to the games without her, he knows she's up to something. Will Annie find a way to see the games?
Pompeii… Buried Alive!
Edith Kunhardt Davis
From the Product Description
The drama and fascination of natural disasters provide prime material to entice young independent readers, particularly those who prefer stories based on true incidents. In this volume of the Step into Reading series, the account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius describes village life 2000 years ago, including the activities of "the family who lived in one of the biggest houses. . . . The father began to dress. His slave helped him." From this noncommittal narration readers glean many facets of an ancient lifestyle, reinforced by deft pastel illustrations. Meanwhile, tension mounts; we know "something terrible is going to happen." The eruption and its aftermath are vividly described, as is the excitement when the buried town is rediscovered centuries later. A lively and factual glimpse of a devastating moment in history, in an accessible, attractive package. This book is a cross between an informational book and historical fiction.
Chapter Books ( ages 9-12)
Detectives In Togas
Henry Winterfield
From the product description
In these two delightful history-mysteries, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes...thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure. Recommended in Laura Berquist Syllabus. ( This book has a sequel titled The Mystery of the Roman Ransom)
The Ides of April
Mary Ray
From the Product Description
In Rome in 62 A.D., seventeen-year-old Hylas must find a way to save himself, his mother, and the other household slaves from imprisonment and imminent death when their master, a prominent senator, is murdered. For older readers
Theras and His Town
Caroline Dale Snedeker
From the Product Description
A young boy in fifth-century Greece was raised in Athens and then separated from his family and forced to live in Sparta. This book includes danger, adventure, courage and triumph
there are a number of fantasies based on Greek and Roman myths and literature. These books can have historical elements and so are worth mentioning. Here are some examples.
Odysseus and the Serpent Maze
Jane Yolen
From the Product Description
Then he and his friend, along with a spoiled princess named Helen and her cousin Penelope, are kidnapped by pirates!
Their journey leads them to Crete, where Odysseus must face the secret at the heart of the Labyrinth. There was a time when the Minotaur devoured all who entered, but now an even deadlier monster roams the maze. There Odysseus discovers the hardest part of being a hero: living long enough to tell the tale. (This book is part of the Young Hero’s series, with features adventures staring Greek mythological heroes)
Black Ships before Troy
Rosemary Sutcliff
From the Product description
The Story of the Iliad
Homer's epic poem, The Illiad, is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time. In it, the abduction of the legendary beauty, Helen of Troy, leads to a conflict in which even the gods and goddesses take sides and intervene. It is in the Trojan War that the most valiant heroes of the ancient world are pitted against one another. Here Hectore, Ajax, Achilles, and Odysseus meet their most formidable challenges and in some casas their tragic ends.
Rosemary Sutcliff makes such extraordinary stories as those of those Trojan horse, of Aphrodite and the golden apple, and of the fearsome warrior women Amazons, accessible to contemporary young people.
In Search of a Homeland : The Story of the Aeneid
Penelope Lively and Ian Andrew
From the Product Description
A glorious gift book from an award-winning storyteller and a much lauded illustrator, who evoke the high drama of mythical Greece and the prehistory of Rome in this retelling of The Aeneid.
Taking his old father on his back and his young son by the hand, Aeneas flees the sacked city of Troy, entrusted by his goddess-mother, Venus, with a daunting mission: Find a new homeland for his people. It is an arduous journey. At every turn, unimaginable dangers await him: terrible monsters and giants; supernatural hazards sent by the enraged goddess Juno; and worst of all, an eerie, death-defying descent into the Underworld, where he will be allowed a glimpse of his Roman descendants glorious future.
