Review by Booklist Review
This oversize volume attempts to replicate a museum experience in its pages. After a brief introduction explaining their curatorial decisions, the author and illustrator jump right into the exhibits, each of which presents several representative objects from an ancient culture, all selected from museum collections worldwide. Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations have perhaps the most objects, though that's likely owing to how well artifacts from those regions have been preserved, but Nelson and Wilkinson also give plenty of attention to cultures that often get short shrift, such as the Olmec and Hopewell in the Americas, and Maori and Aboriginal people in Oceania. Wilkinson's illustrations detailed drawings based on photographs of the objects are especially eye-catching on the large-format pages, though there's little sense of scale. Nelson's detailed, engaging descriptions give helpful historical context and explain why each object is notable. Though nothing can match an actual trip to a museum, this is nonetheless an effective way to pique the interest of history-loving kids.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a handsome overview of world antiquities (a companion to Animalium), more than 130 artifacts from Africa, America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania are grouped into six "galleries" and recreated in illustrations set against colored plates. Nelson contextualizes the objects with overviews of more than a dozen individual cultures, which include the Mayan and Pueblo peoples of the Americas, the Maori, and ancient civilizations of Korea, Persia, Rome, and more. An Aztec "double-headed serpent mosaic" coils horizontally across one spread, allowing readers to get a sense of the thousands of bits of turquoise arranged on the carved wood form. From Stone Age tools to Egyptian canopic jars and an 11th-century Iranian bowl featuring an early calligraphic form of Arabic, Wilkinson's striking replications and Nelson's informative descriptions offer insight into objects both sacred and mundane. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-This museum-style exhibition of world culture goes beyond simply covering the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian worlds by encompassing southern African, Polynesian, and Hopewell cultures. The work begins with a general introduction to archaeology and provides a full-spread time line for reference. An index cites the museum locations of the depicted artifacts. The strength of this work is the gorgeous exhibits, presented in full color on oversize pages. Each exhibit begins with a brief overview of a specific culture. The presentation is less cluttered than that of DK's popular "Eyewitness" series, as most pages contain no more than six items. Readers will discover household articles, such as Pueblo jars, as well as large-scale features, including Roman mosaics. Thorough captions provide context. Wilkinson's illustrations of the various artifacts are photorealistic, with exacting detail. Only a few statuary pieces come off as obvious illustrations. The objects stand out on the pages, the backgrounds set in bold, solid colors. The chapters, called "Galleries," are arranged by continent, and the various exhibitions are further broken down into culture groups. In certain galleries, which focus on precise historical periods, the cultural groups are presented chronologically; in the case of America, the section on the Olmec is followed by the Maya and then the Aztecs. This book accomplishes a difficult goal: providing a high-interest visual experience that also has informational depth. VERDICT A beautiful addition to any elementary or middle school library, this work is the closest readers will come to attending a museum without leaving home.-Jeffrey Meyer, Mt. Pleasant Public Library, IA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In this attractive "museum," after an explanation of the study of archaeology, readers are invited to browse the six galleries: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. The text consists of introductions to sub-regions and eras as well as detailed captions to numbered plates of meticulously illustrated archaeological objects. A terrific introduction to archaeology and a novel opportunity for armchair exploration. Ind. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An oversized album of archaeological treasures, from an early Stone Age hand ax to a 19th-century tiki pendant. Inviting readers to take a sort of virtual museum tour, Nelson gathers over 140 representative artifacts into geographical "galleries." She presents them with both broad opening overviews of their cultural contexts and individual descriptive notes on their features and anthropological significance. The large illustrations are not photos but digital images that are drawn in painstaking detail, colored in subdued or neutral hues, and reproduced on smooth but not polished paper. With further antique formality of design, the dimly but evenly lit objects are suspended against monochrome backgrounds, often several to a "plate," and well-separated from the text. Though the focus is largely on defunct civilizationsEgypt and Mesopotamia to Olmec, Korean Silla, and the Vikingsthe author acknowledges survivors such as the Pueblo and indigenous Australians. Readers on this side of the pond may feel slighted, as the gallery devoted to the Americas is the smallest and contains nothing from South America, but both the Torres Strait Islanders and several Polynesian cultures receive nods in the Oceania section. Moreover, rather than usual suspects like the Rosetta Stone or the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon," the objects on display are often less familiar funerary, religious, or decorative objects. Many of the artifacts, particularly the gold ones, look drab, though, and none are either shown to scale or consistently accompanied by measurements. Furthermore, there are no maps or leads to further information. An arbitrary assortment of relics not likely to furnish either the insight or the glimpses of wonder that elevate companion volume Animalium (2014). (timeline, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
