History News: The Greek News

History News

by Anton Powell, Philip Steele, Various (Illustrator)

"These entertaining, deftly organized books will make terrific light-hearted additions to curriculum units on ancient civilizations." —  Publishers Weekly

Stop the presses! What if ancient civilizations had daily newspapers? And they were amusing and compellingly informative? They might just look like this innovative series of historical nonfiction, presented in a unique, kid-friendly format. 

Read all About it! In  The Greek News  life in ancient Greece is presented in the form of a daily newspaper written at the time. As accessible as your morning paper.  The Greek News  will give young readers the unforgettable sense of actually being a citizen of an ancient nation.

Back matter includes a time line, an index, and an explanation of Roman and Greek spellings.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Childrens, Greece, Picture Books, Geography

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Anton Powell (born 1947) teaches Greek classics at the University of Wales. He is the author of several books and lives in the countryside of Wales.

Reviews

[Emmie]

This was part of our History curriculum for our oldest this year. This was a fun way to present parts of history. As a writer I appreciated the uniqueness of the journalistic style for recounting history. It also has "advertisements" to see the types of things people would have been buying and selling back then. It made me want to visit that time period and interview people myself. My oldest loved it also. He enjoyed the pictures to go along with the story.

4.5 stars for this unique history book!

[Rebecca]

What a great way to learn about the ancient Greeks. Formatted like a newspaper or magazine during the time of ancient Greece complete with ads, illustrations, and news segments. Enjoyable read and will be fun to look back on as a reference.

[Amy]

This book reads like a kid magazine or newspaper from the past. Not only do students learn a lot about history but also this can be a tool to teach them how to use informational books.

[Keaton]

I didn't like but This book is for people who enjoy history and people who like short pages but alot of text books.

This book isn't good but it's good for knowledge about history and the greeks theirs not much to talk about but it had good information about their army and how they train them and how they give women training to be tough just like the spartans and has a lot of events placed in this book and I would recommend this to a lot of people I know especially the ones that like history.

[Vicki Cline]

This is another in a series presenting ancient history and culture in the form of a tabloid newspaper. In addition to sections on events, sports, politics, religion and women's news, there's a page about philosophers (naturally) and one on the theater. I especially like the want ads, some advertising items for sale, like beehives or perfume bottles shaped like feet, some looking to hire people, like a cook, some offering services, like a vase painter, and some showcasing houses for sale.

[Good]

History explained through a newspaper of the day. Really indirect way to teach children. Very sarcastic tone in all the writing which a child may not understand, especially the parts about women and slaves. Would have loved non-fiction text with the pictures that are in the book; it would have been great.

[Rebecca]

I learned a lot about Ancient Greece reading this. Even though I grew up as a kid during the time when newspapers were rapidly going out of fashion, I still read this book a lot, and it taught me about Ancient Greece. Especially, this showed me how differently people thought in the past. It was interesting.

[Stephanie]

I give this book 4 stars, because my little one loved this book. I didn't care for the style of it. It is very informative and nice short clips of Greek life and history. It is perfect for homeschool educationa nd teaching children in a fun style (for them) about Greece.

[H]

It's okay if you're trying to learn, but it wasn't as colorful or interesting as I thought. It was really just a history lesson with a light newspaper coating. I think it'd be more fun if it were Greek Myths or something and not so historical, but I suppose this would be good for a class or such.

[What April's Reading]

This book offers a very fun way to learn about different aspects of the Greek way of life. Set in newspaper form, each page has a different topic with clever headings and information presented in a news article type of way.

[Maren Prestegaard]

Perhaps best for a classroom library.

[Laurie Wheeler]

Fun book that we used in our Classical Dialectic homeschool history class to learn about Ancient Greece.

[Kellee Moye]

Full review at: http://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=1861

Set up like a Greek newspaper, The Greek News takes important events from the history of Greece and transcribes them as articles. The articles range in topics including Sparta, Alexander the Great, politics, army/navy life, trades, sports, woman, mythology, arts, education, philosophy, and traditions.

The book is so well done with each page including a main article as well as other features including sidebars, maps, advertisements, diagrams, illustrations and political cartoons. I think students will like reading/learning about Greece more from this text than other because the unique format shares the information as if it was happening in the present and puts the reader in the middle of Greece. It also throws in some humor which students will love. This text can lead to such great discussions about not only Greece, but war, philosophy, mythology, propaganda, and so many other things.

Mentor text for: propaganda, informational text, text structures, diverse formats, newspaper articles, main idea (through headlines, lead paragraph), quotations

Snatch of text: "In 415 B.C., Athens tried to add to its territory by conquering the island of Sicily. The results were disastrous - thousands of Athenian soldiers and hundreds of warships were lost. The Spartans leaped on Athens's weakness and cut off the city's supply of wealth from its silver mines..." ("Sparta Attacks!" p. 6)

"You know what it's like. One minute your life is going smoothly, then, just when you least expect it, the gods turn their back on you and disaster strikes! Don't panic - The Greek News will tell you everything you need to know about keeping the gods on your side." (Lead paragraph for "Pleasing the Gods" p. 20-21)

"Socrates is to die! The jury of 501 men has made its decision - Socrates is guilty of not believing in the state-approved gods and of leading young people astray with his teaching." ("Death by Poison, pg. 27)

CCSS- Reading Standards 5(structure), 7(diverse formats), 8(validity of claims); Writing Standards 2(informative), 4-6(produce, plan, revise, edit, publish), 7-9(research)

[Ahmadou]

The Greek News was awesome. It had everything from slaves to fashion to war. They had a guide to making the gods happy.It talked about the wars and how Athens was destroyed. It also described how the Greek took over other countries and how the other countries help Greece. I liked the part about the Olympics. It talked about the different events and ways people have cheated in these events.

[Mikey Gee]

Picked this up from a classroom because I've been listening to Yale lectures on Greek history on YouTube. It is funny to me how often the book and the lectures are quoting from the same sources. I wouldn't be surprised if the author based their research on the lectures I was watching (or visa versa

[Laura]

This is a terrific must have read when your kids are learning about the ancient Greeks. Fun Illustrations, and lots of good humor!

[Jeannie]

Clever way to excite and engage children in history. Written much like a newspaper with articles, etc. (thus the title "The Greek News"). Highly recommend for children that love detail!

[JoAnne Styger]

I thought this book was a good way to introduce Greek history and culture to children. It will also be a good resource to go back to for an interesting book for them to read on their own.

[Liz Price Patel]

5th Grade

[Sylvia]

Learn a little about Greek civilization with articles like, "Your Life in Their Hands", "Living in a Pigsty". Written as if the stories were found in a newspaper.

[Lisa]

Lighthearted overview of ancient Greek history. We love this history news book series around our house.

[Gloria Green]

An innovative approach to introducing ancient history -- although interned for children, it's a fun, yet informative read......

[R. G. Nairam]

I LOVED these as a kid. Still think they're pretty awesome. Incredibly engaging format. I remember that Greek News was one of my favorites.

[Belle Meade School]

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