The Indus Valley

by Jane Shuter

An introduction to the civilization of the Indus Valley, which began crica 3500 B.C.E., including its culture, government, writing system, and more.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Ruth Barone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a general overview of the Indus Valley civilization. There is little known about this society due to the fact that we have never been able to decipher their writing. Most of what we know (or can guess) is based on archeological findings. This lost civilization was remarkably advanced for its era, and what caused it to fall to ruins may forever be a mystery.

Looks to be about fourth grade reading level, and includes some nice photos and illustrations. Covers many different aspects of what life might have been like in the Indus River Valley.

[Jeremiah Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

We got this book for extra reading for Classical Conversations Cycle 1.

It's very dry, factual reading. Our 6 and 4 year olds were not interested in the pictures and there were not many illustrations. The map is very basic and doesn't give this region a sense of placement in the world around it.

Granted, not a lot is known of this area or people, but it seems the author used very little imagination to convey the knowledge we do have.

This book was mildly interesting to me as an adult. The drainage system was the most interesting part of this book but that was only a few pages.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not the way I prefer to learn about a civilization. The book states no clothes have ever been found from this civilization and then goes on to state what clothes the commoners and the upper class wore. Hmm. Also full of the word probably. This doesn't make me very confident in our studies for the week!