The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance (Second Revised Edition) (Vol. 2) (Story of the World)

The book does a good job of providing a balanced look at the major events during the Middle Ages. The book will focus on one area of the world, going over the major events, who was in charge, and who accomplished some of the important things, like discovering America. Then the book will move on to another part of the world for a couple chapters.

Susan Wise Bauer did an excellent job of weaving in various parts of history. For example in talking about a culture the book might go into a major myth or story of the group. The variety in pacing flows nicely from history, to what it might have been like to live at the time in a given culture, to some of these myths, and then back again. This helps keep the children interested.

The book is just right for young children. When they are young they don't need another 1000 pages of details most of us forget anyways. This book is written in such away that young children really want to listen, they want to know what happened, and then what will happen next. They can develop a love for history such that they'll go back and read in more detail about the parts of history they found interesting.

If you are looking for a good book for young children covering the major events of world history during the Middle Ages, this is the best I've found.


EXCELLENT!   March 26, 2005
CD (Texas)
20 out of 22 found this review helpful

While this book is designed for younger elementary children, I believe it is more concisely thorough than most high school students will ever retain. I am using it for late elementary and middle school students who are captivated by the stories which springboard their interest into deeper reading. We are, of course, supplementing every few sections with an appropriate grade level novel. I love that "whole world" approach which skips back and forth between the major cultures at each time frame. Most sources overfocus on European World History and eliminate the co-existing and critically, historically important Islamic and Eastern cultures. I would venture to say that most adults do not have the unified historical threads keenly integrated. My "kids" are learning the basic flow of history with a high degree of retention using this curriculum with historical literature supplementation.

I would skip the activity book due to philosophical concerns (which I have posted under the activity book listing) if it were not true that the maps and question review are very important.

We did add Sherri Payne's Around the World in 180 Days geography program to this. We hopscotched through the continental studies as we encountered them in SOTW, even breaking down the "Define" and "Term" sections into specific areas of SOTW study. When the year of history was done, 99% of the geography course was done, as well. It fit together well. I think the kids appreciated the variety of dividing the continent sections up a bit over the year, rather than an exhaustive study all in one length time frame.


I learned as much as my kids!   November 19, 2003
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

This series is FANTASTIC. I can't wait for Volumes 3 and 4 to come out! For anyone who hated history in school (as I did), this is a welcome change. I know it sounds cliche, but history really comes alive in Susan Wise Bauer's writing. We got the spiral version of the book, and we also got the Activity Book for it (in looseleaf, to put in a 3-ring binder), and have been thrilled with them. Everyone I've been able to show the books to has been blown away. Thanks, Mrs. Bauer, for writing such a great resource!


The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child Vol 2: The Middle Ages   March 16, 2006
Betty (New Canaan, CT)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I purchased Volume 1 of the series (there are 4 Volumes)and my son loved it so we went ahead with Volume 2. I found the book appropriate for Grades 1 through 4 but my Fifth Grader enjoyed the book because many topics are covered concisely. For older students (Grades 5 to 8) I would also recommend using "Kingfisher History Encyclopedia" concurrently.