This past year we went through ancient history at a breakneck pace, and that meant I made lots of book lists for our history lessons. Once we finished off our Worldview Unit, we started into Ancient Sumeria, and of course, I went to our library and got every single book they had on Ancient Sumeria, so this is our Ancient Sumeria booklist.
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Quick Explanation for my history book lists
Usually speaking, when I’ve done booklists, I’ve tended to stick to picture books, and fun books that give flavor. This time I’m trying to give a wider variety of books, and also include some videos and CDs.
Some Useful Ancient History books for Spines, that you’ll use beyond an Ancient Sumeria unit
- National Geographic Essential Visual History of World Mythology– You’ll be using this all year long, and it gives a nice summary of several different myths (cough Gilgamesh cough cough)
- The Oxford Companion to World Mythology– Pick this book or the National Geographic for a good overview mythology book
- Story of the World, Ancient History– This covers all of ancient history, and you should choose between this one or…
- The Mystery of History 1– We used Mystery of History rather than Story of the World, I like the style of writing better
Of course, this year we didn’t use any spines, but watched lots of videos and more, which I’ll include down below
Ancient Sumeria Booklist
- Mesopotamia– This is a great resource for history lessons, I read through all of this before teaching our Ancient Sumeria unit last year. I like junior nonfiction books for giving a nice solid overview.
- Ancient Mesopotamia– If your library happens to have this DVD, awesome, if not, don’t worry about it.
- Gilgamesh– This is epic if you’re teaching high school and want to read some original texts, my library also has an audio version of it.
- The Epic of Gilgamesh– If you’re dealing with elementary kids, this is a great bite-size version of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
- Gilgamesh the King– An extended picture book on the Epic of Gilgamesh, the first in a series (The Revenge of Ishtar and The Last Quest of Gilgamesh are all part of this series, and are amazing!). I love this review with discussion questions for this book
- Gilgamesh: a graphic novel– perfect if you have a kid who’s outgrown picture books, but you don’t want to read a full novel.
- Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization– You’ll see this book pop up again with Babylon, these two civilizations somewhat run together.
- Hubert Invents the Wheel– Silly book about how an early Sumerian invented the wheel.
- You Wouldn’t Want to be a Sumerian Slave!– These books are ALWAYS a hit with my kids.
- Science in Ancient Mesopotamia– Another great book for information on the scientific advances this culture came up with.
- DK Eyewitness Books: Mesopotamia– DK Eyewitness books started modern nonfiction books for elementary kids.
- Hands on History: Ancient Mesopotamia– I found this book at Half Price Books, and have been slowly picking up all the books from the series. They have some fun history, AND great hands-on projects.
A Few Extras for our Ancient Sumeria Booklist
I had an Ancient Mesopotamia video list, but I only found a few decent videos for Ancient Sumeria.
In theory, this will play and share the next two videos I have for Ancient Sumeria, if not, I’m going to have to embed them as well.
More Ancient History Fun
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