G is for Gladiator: An Ancient Rome Alphabet

Before we get into things, here are some other images that pop up when you search "G is for Gladiator":

A Jeep Gladiator:

(I wouldn't want to face that in the Coliseum)

The letter G "dressed up" as a gladiator:

(there were many variations on this theme)

And of course:

(Are you not entertained?)

Finally, did you know that there are cheerleaders for the American Gladiator show called the G-force cheerleaders? This really was an educational Google search! Now for the actual content.

 G is for Gladiator: An Ancient Rome Alphabet

Recommended for ages 8-10, AR level 7.0, lexile 1050L

Alphabet books, in my mind anyway, are picture books that don't have a lot of text but do have many fun illustrations such as Dr. Seuss's ABC, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, or Eating the Alphabet. But this book by the couple Debbie and Michael Shoulders and illustrated by Victor Juhasz is much more informative and, as you can see from the reading level, written for children who know all of their letters. The illustrations are very well done and engaging (I love the letter "I" which features crying twin babies Romulus and Remus being stared at by a confused she-wolf) and the facts about ancient Rome that are included give readers a good overview of Roman history; they might even be intriguing enough to prompt further investigation.

Most letters get a two-page spread with a full color illustration, three or four paragraphs of text outlining the chosen topic, and a short poem introducing the letter and topic. For example, the letter "S" has the following verse: "S is for Schooling/Roman children went to school/just like students do today./They studied history, literature, and math/before they were allowed to play." The three paragraphs accompanying the picture of several children--some looking at a scroll and listening to a teacher, and one using an abacus--describe the typical ages for schooling, the subjects studied, and the differences in the education received by boys and girls. Sadly for me, this page also includes a typo: "lundi" instead of "ludi" (the French word for "Monday" instead of the Latin word for "school"). There is some explanation about the materials Roman students would have used to write with (spoiler: no trendy felt-tipped pens here), the necessity of copying books by hand in the absence of the printing press, and the art of public speaking. 

There is no unifying theme for the book (other than ancient Rome, obviously!), so that allows the authors to cover everything from aqueducts to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. I didn't mind hopping from topic to topic since all of the material covered is kind of "greatest hits" level stuff, so it's very interesting. My only gripes with the book are:

1. lack of works cited, references, etc.; I understand that this isn't a book that a student is likely to use for a report, but it still seems like an omission

2. it feels like a lot of related topics are sometimes crammed into one letter's explanatory text, as the "schooling" example above demonstrates; there are some pages (such as "w" for water) which stick with one theme, but many of them jump around

A nice resource provided by the publisher, Sleeping Bear Press, is a teacher's guide:

https://sleepingbearpress.com/teaching_guides/205

The guide provides some extension activities such as making a mosaic or trying out a Roman recipe, and also reinforces much of the information presented with simple puzzles and exercises for students. However, not even the teacher's guide gives any suggested websites or books for further learning. Ancient Rome is a popular topic to study, so there are many great websites out there such as:

1. the main page with links to tons of other subtopics at Mr. Donn.org

2. the Britannica Kids page - I love their resources because they give information for three different levels of reading ability and understanding ("kids," "students," and "scholars")

3. or even just a "10 best" list by NatGeo; the linked resources are wonderful!

This book might be a great entry point for a kid who has seen something about gladiators or ancient Rome and wants to learn more, but I think that it would be better as a read-aloud for an elementary school class that is doing a unit on Rome. With a teacher reading a few pages a day and providing some tie-in activities or additional information, I could easily see this being a great springboard to further learning. It would provide some structure but a teacher could take the information it contains in so many directions.

Shoulders, Debbie, and Michael Shoulders. G is for Gladiator: An Ancient Rome Alphabet. Sleeping Bear Press, 2010.