Mesopotamia

Children's Literature - Danielle Williams

Unlike other ancient societies, Mesopotamia was not a single nation or empire, but rather a group of ancient city-states that existed in the Middle East in an area known as the Fertile Crescent. As a whole, Mesopotamia is considered to be the cradle of civilization, and it is here that many of the inventions and discoveries that made creation of societies possible were developed, including writing, the wheel, and cities. Sunita Apte does not focus on any one civilization from in this area, but instead provides brief descriptions of Sumeria, Babylon and Assyria before highlighting what made these societies similar and different from one another. Full-color illustrations serve to highlight the rich cultures that developed in Mesopotamia, and brief asides highlight particularly interesting facts about the first civilizations. The text is quite brief. It does not delve deeply into the history of Mesopotamia, but provides enough information to encourage children to conduct additional research into the cultures that developed there. Reviewer: Danielle Williams