Usborne Book of World History

The book my seven-year-old is most likely to pick out for read-aloud time (even outside of school time) is The Usborne Book of World History from Usborne Publishers.  Obviously, my seven-year-old loves history.  He loves it so much that our copy of World History is about to fall apart.

Do not be afraid to start reading this big book aloud to your children.  My children enjoy reading only one two-page spread at a time so they can pour over the pictures and ask questions about what’s happening.  (No, I don’t always know the answers to their questions.  And it’s OK.)

I’ve read through the entire book twice, once with my older two children and once with my younger two children.  All four of my children still pull it out to read and look at the pictures, or even as a reference for a paper they need to write.  I wish the publisher included real pictures of the artifacts, but the drawings capture my children’s attention.

World History also includes projects, if you feel so inclined to make your own Cretan fresco, Egyptian water clock or Assyrian shaduf (a tool to facilitate field irrigation).  Don’t be surprised to learn from this book.  Somehow, in my school years at least, I missed the history of India, China, Africa and Japan (among others).  World History gives a good overview of the history of the whole world, not just the west.