The Victorians

by Ruth Brocklehurst

From slums and steelworks, to the British Empire and the Great Exhibition, this book tells the story of life in Victorian Britain. Full of intriguing facts, illustrations, detailed reconstructions, paintings and maps. Includes links to websites to find out more information via the Usborne Quicklinks Website.

Genres: History

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

When she wasn't riding her bike or making things out of loo rolls and scraps of fabric, Ruth spent her childhood reading about detectives and historical figures. She has written and edited countless books for Usborne - some about detectives and historical figures; some about dinosaurs, scientists and astronauts.

Reviews

[Emma Otusajo]

The Victorians was one of the main things I remember about history at primary school. I absolutely loved learning about the costumes, the lifestyle and the more horrible parts such as the awful punishments and the absolute poverty and disease. I loved finding out about the way they lived - seeing images of how water tipped out of the window into the gutter, the Taverns where people went to socialise, the harsh way of life with workhouses.
London seemed just that bit more dreary and dirty then, but that was what made the Oliver Twist days so interesting. I used to love pretending to be a character from Mary Poppins or Oliver Twist, putting on different aspects and dressing up in traditional costume.

Onto the book - this is great for upper Key Stage 1 or KS2 learners to read more about aspects of life in those times, while having clear illustrations to accompany it. The text is not too heavy - laid out into short chunks of information, split into categories. This is a really book which children can dip into if they want to find out about a certain aspect of the history, and which can also be cross curricular - as well as history, it could come into geography (discussing how people lived), drama or art.

[Ille]

'The Victorians' by Ruth Brockenhurst in the 'Usborne History Of Britain' series is a great book.
It covers every area of life in Victorian Britain - school, home, art, recreation, industrialization, politics and much more.

[Claire O'Connor]

A very nice summary of Victorian ages touching on all major events under Victoria's rule. I would have liked some more background facts on the 'Trouble in Ireland' section.

[Isla]

I love the Victorians so much and this really helped me with writing my story ❤️

[Della Tingle]

As a book, this is a wonderful resource on the Victorian age, full of interesting facts and colorful illustrations. As an internet resource, 3 stars at best. I understand things on the Internet come and go, but I was surprised at just how many of the links were no longer working. I don’t know how often the links should be checked: weekly, monthly? However often, whatever is currently being done is just not sufficient. A broken link or two, fine. SEVERAL broken links? Not good enough, Usborne, not good enough.

[Cat]

Sweet, easy and informative. I enjoyed reading this with my kids. A great history.