The Sumerians

Shows how people lived in ancient Sumeria, a land now known as Iraq, by describing their social, economic, political, religious, and cultural life, as well as their contributions to later civilizations.

Gr 3-5-Written in simple language, these books supply scant information in a scattershot manner. Organized into two-page sections, each one gives information about population and most aspects of social life, from religious beliefs to schooling, architecture, war, food, and sports in a cursory manner. The layout makes excellent use of white space, and maps as well as numerous color photos of artifacts and sites are included. Two-page time lines do a fair job of laying out the duration of each civilization, but do not reference the entries to concurrent events in other parts of the world. In this respect, Maya is slightly stronger in that it mentions the conquest of Mexico, thus employing European history as a touchstone. The problems with the texts are significant. There is frequent repetition of facts, and, occasionally, the author seems to contradict herself: "There are no trees and very little stone here. Wood was often used to build fires for cooking and heating, and stone was often used for building" (Sumerians). Sometimes the writing is so general as to be meaningless. In Maya: "Women wore their hair long too, arranged in different ways." Illustrations do not always match the narratives with which they are placed. Despite an attractive format, the textual deficiencies make Elaine Landau's The Sumerians (Millbrook, 1997) or Elizabeth Mann's Tikal (Mikaya, 2002) better choices.-Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.