Cities Through Time

These colorful titles aim to present the history of major cities from ancient to modern times. London begins in 50 CE with Roman invaders, then showcases 1066 BC with the crowning of William of Normandy, then early 1600s with Shakespeare’s theater, next 1666 with the plague and Great Fire of London, followed by 1890s’ industrial revolution, 1941 German bombing of the city, and finally, 2023 with the coronation of King Charles III. The book ends with a one-page timeline that summarizes each of the seven highlighted times and shows the country on a world map. Includes a glossary (11 words), further reading, index, and Factsurfer link, which leads to three useful kid-appropriate websites about the city. “Blastoff Jimmy’ begins the book with three Mission Goals (one is “learn about different challenges London has faced”) and ends the book with three “Beyond the Mission” tasks (such as “which part of London’s history would you like to visit?”) and occasionally Jimmy shows up on pages to give more facts. The series currently has 12 titles.

THOUGHTS: This is an ambitious idea and helpful in grasping a long-range perspective, but the jumps in time can be surprising (World War II to King Charles III). Recommended for browsing and for generating questions about the city which students could seek to answer. Supplemental purchase.

These titles survey the history of ­cities from ancient to modern times. Seven important dates are highlighted, each with a few sentences of information in colorfully illustrated spreads. A cartoon character adds a fun fact on some pages. Coverage spans over 1,000 years, so the seven dates can offer just snippets of history, which can be hard to follow without context or background knowledge.

We learn that India rebelled against British rule in 1857, for example (Delhi), but are not told how the British came to power there. The changes at a page turn can be abrupt: in one spread, tanks and soldiers are invading Iraq in 2003, while the next section jumps to a cheering crowd at a soccer stadium in 2022 (Baghdad).

VERDICT: While the illustrations are appealing, covering such wide time spans with sparse information limits usefulness for young readers.