Signs, Letters, Words : Archaeology Discovers Writing

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up From its sculpted cover to its elegant endpapers, this slim, scholarly volume is a pleasure to the discerning eye and the inquiring mind. Laced with cool gray illustrations of the artifacts on which early writings appeared, the text details the archaeology of the written word from the representative pictorial of decorated pottery to the non-representative modern alphabet. Hackwell takes pains to illustrate the complexities of this long development and to show writing to be the end product of a history of sociological and economic change. This is briefer than Robert Claiborne's The Birth of Writing (Time/Life, 1974; o.p.), and more tightly focused than Oscar Ogg's The 26 Letters (Crowell, 1971). The final illustration of a Sumerian supplicant statue and a portable computer is a startling reminder of our ancient roots. Patricia Manning, Eastchester Public Library, N.Y.