A New Look at Ancient Rome

You know you can Google Earth any location on this planet today, but did you know you can Google Earth a place from back in time? Take a look at Ancient Rome...

England Week - The Plague

Finding Nell of Branford Hall was like finding a little jewel. First and foremost, with no draggy parts nor dull characters, it was a pleasure to read. Then I was impressed with how it sprinkled in just a snippet of the Glorious Revolution, the Royal Society and other English history. But of course, the main course here is the plague...

It started with rumors that the dreaded disease was in Amsterdam and would get to England eventually. By the time Nell makes her first visit to London the plague has arrived. While there she has a major transportation problem. Her carriage wheel breaks and when she and an escort go in search of a hackney coach to hire they discover they are in the most disease ridden area of the city. Oh, the sites she sees! Ghastly. With great relief she finally returns to Branford Hall. But alas, the plague arrives in her beloved Branford Village. The villagers concoct a plan to deal with the plague. But will Nell’s dearest friend, Kate, survive?

The one oddity to me is that Nell’s uncle, a doctor, knows with certainty that the disease is spread by fleas. I believe this wasn't figured out until after the fact. But I'll say this, young readers will never again think of the plague without thinking of fleas.

Ages 10 and up
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Activity: Play medieval doctor. Try to diagnose and cure three patients. Read about their symptoms and then decide what treatment to prescribe.

Black History Month Challenge

Can you match the quote with the person who said it? I found this challenge at Biography.com. That site is brimming with all sorts of resources.

Good Knight Stories

The Barefoot Book of Knights is a cleverly presented retelling of seven tales from days of yore. Most of the stories originated in Europe, but the author also includes legends from Japan, Persia and Russia.

The stories are told through the kindly voice of Master William, the Armorer of the castle, who is in charge of several pages, including a young boy named Tom. When Tom doesn’t understand why a future knight, such as he, should have to wash dishes, or is envious of his brothers approaching knighthood, or is not cooperating with a fellow page, or is just homesick, Master William knows just the right story to set him straight.

Your child will gain a sense of what life was like for a ten year old page starting a new life at a castle. And he or she will relish listening in as Master William tells his tales!

Ages 6-12
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Activity: Knights first used decorated shields in battle as a way to identify allies from enemies. Here is a fun, free place to design your own shield and print it out.

You also might like this Knight Word Search from another post.

Barnes and Noble vs Amazon

I'm in a scrounging for books frame of mind this week. I've been reading a couple of interesting books but have decided to wait and review them with other related titles.

In the mean time I was poking around the Barnes and Noble and Amazon websites. I like to compare them. I also find it very interesting to have foxnews.com open in one window and cnn.com open in a different one, but that's another story. Anyway, at Barnes and Noble my click pattern goes like this: Kids>Subjects>See All Subjects>History. Here I can search inside of this little history niche for sports or dogs or art or whatever which often conjures up some unique history titles. In contrast, at Amazon I click first on Books>Children's Books>History & Historical Fiction. Here I can't search in this narrower history field. And check out how different the top selling children's history lists are at each site:

I see some titles I gotta read! I also see some titles on that Amazon list that make me go “huh?” Would you call 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a history book??? And that Leprechaun in Late Winter title kind of threw me for a loop. But it turns out it does introduce a historical figure, Lady Gregory. And what is up with two Anne Franks and two Holocaust titles appearing within the top ten on the Barnes and Noble list? I also notice that no single title is shared by both lists.

The bottom line is that I like searching for books at bn.com. But I like how the reviews are organized at Amazon. I like that shipping is free on orders of $25 or more at Amazon and usually order from them. But if I need a single title I call my local Barnes and Noble and if they don't have it they order it for me and I pick it up at the store without paying shipping. And I love their store. Sometimes, on those rare evenings when the kids are hither and yon, and we're not sure what to do with ourselves, my husband and I go hang out at Barnes and Noble. It's nice.

So, which site do you prefer?

Great Blogs

Discovered some new blogs recently. Ryan is learning his countries in Africa and when I googled "blank African map" for him to fill in for practice I discovered the Free Printable Maps blog. Wow. We’ll be visiting this place again and again. And to show just how thankful I am for this site, here's Ryan's graded test:

While there I noticed a link to Free Coloring Pages. Though most of these are very juvenile, the site did offer a link to several pages of Barack Obama and the Statue of Liberty if any of you happen to need them.

Library of Books, Links & More offers links to loads of topics, including my two favorites, history and geography. Look on the left hand side, eighth subject down. There I spied the Best of History Website. What a treasure trove!

I also enjoyed coming across Karen’s History Project blog this week. She has collected many great history links as well. One that looks particularly interesting is called Picturing History.
Under the Lessons in Looking section of that site I read a thought provoking analysis of how slaves have been depicted in art.

Eye Witness to History

The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote of his day at the Coliseum watching the Gladiators. Pliny the Younger recalled in a letter how he barely survived the Pompeii disaster of 79AD. Sadie Frowne told of immigrating to America from Poland and Lady Bird Johnson recorded her memories of the day JFK was shot. All these juicy tidbits from history have been collected at an amazingly well organized site, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com.

Browse fascinating written eyewitness accounts from the making of a mummy to Nixon leaving the Whitehouse. But there are also recorded voices, fascinating photos and amazing videos available too.

Warning...addictive browsing. Very bookmark worthy.

Ages 9 and up
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History Game

Can you place the stock market crash, the start of the civil war and the Wright brothers first flight in the correct years? Give this Timeline Game a try.