I have written a few posts about these books but with everyone starting to think about which books to buy for their new home education year I feel like it is worth mentioning this series again. This series is my ultimate best History buy (and we have bought quite a few different history books for our History crazy daughter). It is the Oxford Aaron Wilkes History series for KS3 which consists of these three history books – Invasion, Plague and Murder (Britain 1066 – 1558), Revolution, Industry and Empire (Britain 1558 – 1901) and Technology, War and Independence (1901 – Present day).

These 3 books are really everything you are going to need for your KS3 History. Everything. And in all honesty I have looked at other History books for KS3 (which is the UK school years of 7, 8 and 9) and the other options just do not match up. And by this I mean they don’t match up in terms of both content (the information they include) and questions included in the books.

Content – I have found these books include more information than other books but the important part is the way in which they information is communicated to the kids. They use cute cartoon strips, lots of diagrams and key boxes, it makes the pages inviting. So although there is a lot of information in these books it is set out in a really reader-friendly format. Easy to read without getting overwhelmed and you walk away having gained a lot of important facts and knowledge. Really a good format.

The other key point about these books is the longer questions which they include at the end of each chapter. Not only do they include great sample questions but they have step-by-step guidance on how the kids should go about formulating and setting out their answers. These end of the chapter questions and the step-by-step answer guides are something that I have been so impressed with. And as a mom who now has a kid preparing for her IGCSE History exam I am so glad we spent the KS3 years working through these questions and building up the skills on how to tackle longer answers.

This entire series is really one of the best education resources that we ever invested in. We highly recommend this series.

For anyone who wants the Amazon links for these amazing books here they are

Book 1 (ideal for Year 7) – Invasion, Plague and Murder (Britain 1066 – 1558)

Book 2 (ideal for Year 8) – Revolution, Industry and Empire (Britain 1558 – 1901)

Book 3 (ideal for Year 9) – Technology, War and Independence (1901 – Present day)

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