Author: Hendrik Willem van Loon
Pages: 579
Genre: Non-fiction, Newbery Award
Grade: B-
Synopsis: This book was awarded the first Newbery Medal in 1922. It covers world history from the very first men on the earth to our present day (even though the book was written over 90 years ago, it has been updated to include WWII, sputnik and other more recent developments in world history). The book was written within the paradigm of the early 20th century, so much has changed since then in how we understand the world and human history. Loon's writing style is very light-hearted and easy to read and the book includes numerous original pen illustrations for many of the topics discussed. If it were more current, it would be a good world history primer for an early Jr. High student, but at this point, we know far more about our past than is included in this book.
My Review: I enjoyed parts of this book and I learned quite a bit (especially about European history in the dark and middle ages), but overall it was a struggle to get through. It doesn't really compare to any of the other Newbery Medal books that I've read in the past because it is so different from all of them. Trim it down from nearly 600 pages and make it more current and it could turn out to be a classic.
Since January 3, 2007
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