This post is for those of you who either educate your children classically or have children with an inordinate interest in the Middle Ages. You all know how much we love read-alouds at the House of Hope. As Lulu has gotten older, I struggle somewhat with how much to give her to do independently and how much to still read aloud to her. Honestly, sometimes it’s for semi-selfish reasons that I don’t have her read more of her required work independently; I don’t want to miss out on the experience, and I also think it’s valuable to have Louise along for the ride, too. Anyway, I discovered this little series of books at a homeschool conference that I attended last year where I got to hear Susan Wise Bauer in person. Of course, Peace Hill Press was there, and on their table was this set of four short biographies on the Empress Theodora, Ethelred the Unready, Amerigo Vespucci, and Johannes Gutenberg. So far in our history studies we have read about the acrobatic princess and the unready king via Story of the World, with more flesh-and-blood put on these stories via these little four chapter biographies. 
We can finish one of these biographies in a couple of sittings, but Lulu usually confiscates the book between readings and finishes it herself alone. They’re not fine literature, or at least not what I consider fine literature (which means a fair amount of description and a measure of literariness). They contain a good bit of dialogue, conflict, and general excitement, all hallmarks of books that easily capture the attention of the listener. However, they also provide plenty of background information and atmosphere. For example, here’s an interesting tidbit from Who in the World Was the Unready King?:
England made the finest coins in the world at the time. They were small silver coins called pence that were worth about a penny. Five pence would buy a sheep, and ten pence would buy a pig. To buy a few loaves of bread and some vegetables to eat, you could easily break a pence in half with your thumb and make “half-pence.” (14)
It’s not hard to find accessible literature about many, many time periods in history, but the Middle Ages selections are heavy on the knights and castles and light on individual personalities. I’m glad to have this little set of biographies to add even more life to our history studies. I only wish there were more of these!
I’m linking this post up to this week’s Favorite Resource This Week linky at Learning ALL the Time and this week’s Trivium Tuesdays linky at Living and Learning at Home.
Amy ~ These books look great. We are right in the Middle Ages now, so I’m going to check my library for them. I also think Trivium Tuesday looks interesting!
Thanks!
Amy, I have seen these books mentioned once or twice before and was always curious what they were like. Thank you for this detailed post – the books look like something my children and I would enjoy.
Thank you for mentioning these books. We’ll be starting SOTW soon and I can’t wait to check these little books out!
These look good – I’ll have to remember them when we eventually make it to SOTW 2 and the Middle Ages. : )
Oh, you are merciless! Merciless, I tell you! (GAA! Must. read.)
We read a couple of these when we studied the Middle Ages- they are very good!
These look interesting. I understand your reasons for wanting to read aloud to your kids. I can’t hand off any of our main history & literature readings because I enjoy them so much!
I’ve seen these… at the Peace Hill website, was it? They looked interesting. Thanks for the review.
We’ve been using other books to flesh out the history bios — Our Island Story is kind of an ongoing reading project, but also books like Famous Men of the Middle Ages, Ten Kings, Ten Queens, Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages, etc.
I’m glad you reviewed these. I’ve seen them and thought they looked intriguing. I may have to check them out.