Everyday Life in Ancient Greece

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6Both of these series entries devote double-page spreads to topics such as food, clothing, housing, religion, and education. The full-color illustrations depict scenes such as planting and harvesting, food preparation, funeral rites, and warfare. Photographs of artifacts, pottery, and jewelry also appear. Introductory material offers a very brief overview of the long and complicated history of Egypt and Greece respectively. Unfortunately, the only maps to be found are quite perfunctory and lack some important details. For example, Greece talks about the importance of Macedonia, but it is not shown on the map. Also, the author refers to the god of the underworld by the Roman name (Pluto), rather than the Greek (Hades). Sophie Descamps-Lequime and Denise Vernerey's The Ancient Greeks, and Viviane Koenig's The Ancient Egyptians (both Millbrook, 1992) are similar in scope and provide more detail.David N. Pauli, Missoula Public Library, MT