We recently finished reading A Child’s History of the World by Virgil M. Hillyer. This book, published by the Calvert School, covers the history of the world from its beginnings through the break-up of the Soviet Union.

How do you cover all of World History in 419 pages? By telling only the most interesting stories. The book is written in a conversational style, as if the author were a grandfather sitting in a big armchair and telling a story to his grandchildren. He often addresses his listeners directly with questions and little asides, and finds ways to make stories from hundreds and thousands of years ago relate to the life of children living now.

We read through this a chapter or two at a time during our morning devotional time. When we got to the end of the book I thought we might move on to literature during that reading time, but my children kept insisting that we had to read history so I have had to find another history book to read! A Child’s History of the World gets high marks for helping my children see history as interesting and relevant and worth asking Mommy to read. I think we will come back and read it again in a year or two.