The Romans In Britain

Book Reviews

TOP BOOK CHOICE

Bright Sparks – The Rowdy Romans series

Published by Franklin Watts

There are four titles in this series, each written by Mick Gowar and illustrated by Martin Remphry:

  • The Great Necklace Hunt
  • The Lost Legionary
  • The Guard Dog Geese
  • A Runaway Donkey

These are delightful stories which are beautifully illustrated with line drawings. Unlike some historical fiction written to match the History National Curriculum they are good stories that stand in their own right. Furthermore they could quite easily form the core of a history scheme of work on the Romans.

In the Guard Dog Geese, Livia is bored while staying on Great Uncle Titus’ country villa. She wants to explore but he has declared that no one can go out because it is a bad luck day. When Livia disobeys she meets the flock of vicious geese that guard the farm with disastrous consequences for her. The average 8+ year-old reader will be hooked. They will care what happens to her and will want to read on.

On one level this is a simple story, which unobtrusively conveys details of life on a Roman villa, but it is also very clever. Central to the plot are Roman attitudes to religion, the significance of the gods, priests, sacrifice and omens so the reader will gain a good understanding of this feature of Roman society.


Time Rangers: A Toss of the Coin

Rob Childs, Scholastic (1998)

The boys of the Tanfield Rangers football team are on tour in the Cotswolds. On their shirts are the team's initials TR which stand for Tanfield Rangers but one of the team, Michael Winter, or Worm (short for guess what) likes to think that the initials really stand for "Time Rangers." This is because some of the team keep find themselves being drawn back into the past.  The other team members blame Worm for this as he is more interested in history than football.

The team managers take the boys to Cirencester to see Chedworth Roman Villa, and the amphitheatre. After lunch some of the team roll down a grass bank - and find themselves back in Roman times. As with other titles in the series the historical detail is very basic and the story is told simply for young readers.