You Wouldn't Want to Be a Sumerian Slave! (You Wouldn't Want to…: Ancient Civilization)

I've used this book to teaching ancient Mesopotamia to 8 year olds. Yes, that young. The pictures show every day life in several aspects -- the river as Life, mud bricks, family life, religious life, the wars, the temples. And it's really funny. ;) You think your parents abuse you? Why don't I sell you into slavery to pay off a lawsuit? Huh?!

Ancient civilizations? Ugh. Sounds boring, but this series makes learning fun! My 11 year old homeschooled daughter giggled her way through our ancient Sumer unit after reading this book.

thanks

We used this book as part of our homeschool curriculum of Biblioplan. I love, love, love these books. MY son is always engaged with them and he enjoys the fast pace and bright pictures. LOts of great information!

Funny and Informative

Thank you so much!

Was reading this to my daughters for supplemental reading for their Classical Conversations (Cycle 1). This whole series looks quite interesting. It provides a snapshot of life in the various places/times and has a POV aspect to the story. There isn't a complete narrative as there is mostly facts listed but it helps to put those facts into a semi-story for the kids to grab onto more. The book covers general life of a low-class child with their family. It shows what place and time they are in, what tools and materials are around them, and what food and work is done. From there, the main character is sold into slavery and you see life in the upper-class and priest echelon. There isn't coverage on anything over G related material other than slavery and paganism. There is even a great section talking about Sumerian's version of the Noah's global Flood which really was a great pause point to cover that subject with my kids. While direct reading everything on all the pages would be a bit much to kids under 7 or 8, a quick skim of the page allows you to pull out what you may want to highlight and it provides a good general overview of all the details you will probably want to hit on in your study about Sumer. Final Grade - A-

Informative and kept my 8yo's attention. That said, it was different than all our other sources on Sumer/mesopotamia because instead of marveling at all the innovations, this book has a complain-y tone that's trying to be funny. For example, other books discuss the flooding rivers as the key to inventing agriculture with the fertile soil. This book talks about what a pain-in-the-a** the flooding is. I really wish I'd found it funnier, since I didn't, I'd wish for a more positive vibe.