I love this series. Love it. I did write a post about the first volume a LONG time ago so I thought it was time that I wrote something about Volume Two. This series is perfect for anyone to use as a primary aged History resource. It is written in a very easy to read manner – when you read it, it sounds more like a story than a History book. Both of my kids read this series and both commented on how easy they were to read and understand, and yes after reading them my kids definitely did learn quite a bit about World History. And that for me is one of the reasons why I love this series so much – because it is WORLD history as opposed to just European or Western History. I have always felt like the History that we are encouraged to cover in the UK is very much a Western based History (it is UK, Europe and North American mostly) and I wanted something that could weave all of that in with events that were happening elsewhere in the World. So that we could really get a global idea of how everything occurred in different areas of the entire World. And for us this series did that.

Vol 2 is a continuation of Vol 1. It starts with the Fall of Rome and continues through to the end of the Sixteenth Century. It does cover the important events and important figures of the time but there are going to be some events and some people that you may think have been missed just because there is no way you could fit everyone and everything into this one book. Having said that I was very satisfied with who they choose to include and which events they highlighted (I think they did an excellent job in deciding who to include and who to exclude – I would hate to have to be the one deciding that).

I honestly feel like I could gush about this book and go on and one about how easy it is to read and how it makes History into a story and how every household should have these books on their bookshelf but I am going to try and point out a few details about this book so that I do not sounds like some crazy woman.

Four main reasons that I am a massive fan of this book (apart from the fact that it is the easiest History book who will ever pick up and try and read).

1. It is World History. And I really do think they did an excellent job linking the different events and characters in the different areas. I loved how they used a flying carpet and would say “now if you climb back onto the carpet and you fly past ………………….. where so and so was doing whatever you will get to a place………….. and here someone called xyz was in power” and they they would go onto describe what was happening in this part of the World. I really appreciated the way it was all linked together and the way they take the kids on a journey across they globe so the kids understand how the areas and people are linked. Really well done in this aspect.
2. I liked the inclusion of the maps. Again I think it helps to explain how the different areas are linked and it also helps the kids to understand that when you talk about something like the Mongol Empire where would that empire fit onto our current globe (I think it is vital that the kids understand where these old Empires existed so yes it is a bit of Geography included, but it is vital to understanding the past). These little maps are key to helping the kids visualize the areas.
3. I also enjoyed how they included stories and legends of the time. And I will admit I know not everyone likes that these stories are included but I think they help the kids to understand the culture and the thinking of that area at that particular time. I enjoyed these stories and I will admit that even as an adult I had a “lightbulb” moment when I read one of these stories and I finally figured out where one of our traditions originated.
4. I also really like how they describe the everyday life of the people. She weaves in details like how certain art work was created, how books where made, what stages a young boy would go through to be a knight or even things like the fact that the Mongols would drink the blood of their horses to avoid starving. Again even as an adult reading this book I totally admit I learnt some interesting facts about different cultures and the things that they did. And I will also say that it is these interesting facts that fascinated my son when he originally read this book.

Both my kids and I highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed.

We bought our copy directly from Amazon – The Story of the World Vol 2

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