Avoid Being a Sumerian Slave!

You Wouldn't Want to Be ...

by Jacqueline Morley, David Antram (Illustrator)

The humorous illustrations and the narrative approach encourage readers to get emotionally involved with the characters, aiding their understanding of what life would have been like being a Sumerian slave. A glossary and index make this an ideal introduction to the conventions of non-fiction texts for 7-11 year olds.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, World History, Juvenile

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Jacqueline Morley studied English at Oxford University and has taught English and History. She is the author of numerous books, including award-winning historical nonfiction titles for children. Her books have won several TES Senior Information book awards.

Reviews

[SaraLaLa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I'm thankful that this aligns with our 6th grade curriculum, I think I was hoping for something more entertaining. I don't know if the students will be motivated to read this series. Perhaps this time period just isn't as interesting as ancient Egypt or Greece. Hopefully those are better, since I'll be reading them over the next few days.

[Patrick S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was reading this to my daughters for supplemental reading for their Classical Conversations (Cycle 1). This whole series looks quite interesting. It provides a snapshot of life in the various places/times and has a POV aspect to the story. There isn't a complete narrative as there is mostly facts listed but it helps to put those facts into a semi-story for the kids to grab onto more.

The book covers general life of a low-class child with their family. It shows what place and time they are in, what tools and materials are around them, and what food and work is done. From there, the main character is sold into slavery and you see life in the upper-class and priest echelon. There isn't coverage on anything over G related material other than slavery and paganism. There is even a great section talking about Sumerian's version of the Noah's global Flood which really was a great pause point to cover that subject with my kids.

While direct reading everything on all the pages would be a bit much to kids under 7 or 8, a quick skim of the page allows you to pull out what you may want to highlight and it provides a good general overview of all the details you will probably want to hit on in your study about Sumer. Final Grade - A-

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book certainly had some educational value, however, it also felt very disconnected and incomplete. The last chapter "Slaves of the Gods" felt like a strange place to end the book and there was no conclusion or review.

[Ben Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good class resource. Kids love learning about misery, so they should be into it.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief account of the life of a slave.

Lacked enough depth to bring the period to life.

Reading time approximately thirty minutes.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really entertaining way to write a children's history book! Very immersive.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining story about life as a peasant/slave in ancient Sumeria in the You Wouldn't Want To... series. I like that they tackle serious historical events and show the not-so-nice side of human behavior, but in a somewhat humorous and tongue-in-cheek way.

The book puts you as the reader into the center of the story, so you can imagine what life in those times was like. I picked this book out specifically because our oldest is studying Mesopotamia and the ancient Sumerians in school right now.

Life for a peasant in ancient times was hard, but once sold into slavery, a person's life becomes even more difficult. Perhaps the only bright spot is that slavery was often for a limited duration and a person was able to save up money to purchase his freedom.

The land was difficult to farm and floods and droughts came at the most inopportune times. The cities all had different rulers, who often warred with one another over control of territory. And myth and religion, including worshipping gods and goddesses are a big part of daily life.

There are a lot of facts, but the text is arranged so that there are plenty of pictures to look at and it's not overwhelming. We really enjoyed reading this book together and will look for more of the books in this series at our local library.

new words: stele, ziggurat

[Jasmine Aikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would you want to be a sumerian slave? The book you wouldn’t want to be a sumerian slave written by Jacqueline Morley is about a family of farmers who have to sell their son for money. Once he is sold the owners find no use for him so he is sold again. At his new job their city is attacked and he is arrested and now a slave. In the rest of the book you find out want being a slave at that time meant -it usually means hard work and labor for life-.
I know that I definitely wouldn’t want to be a sumerian slave. I would rate this book 4 ½ stars because the book really hooked me in right away and got me wishing the book was longer. This book was really nicely organized and the pictures helped me read this a lot easier and visualize everything. The only reason why I took the half star off was because in the middle it got dull but sprang back up. I think that anyone wanting to learn about the topic or interested would really enjoy this book.

[Katherine Cowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly checked out this book because I knew absolutely nothing about Sumerian culture and I loved the title. It did not disappoint--I loved all the tidbits about life, culture, slavery, farming, the elite, kingdom rivalries, food, all mixed in with the basic premise of not wanting to be a slave. I haven't seen 2nd person used often, but it was done well, and I think the artwork was representational enough to work for a nonfiction picture book. To me this is a book for 6-8 year olds.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of information in this book. I didn't know a lot about this subject but this book makes it easy to get this information without being too depressing. I think this is a great way to get kids to read about this subject. If it was so depressing kids wouldn't read it. This is a great way to talk about the bad things in our past.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the humor in history it gives

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really surprised how much my daughter liked this book. The illustrations are great and it sparked a lot of questions. We will be reading this again as we study more about Sumer this year.

[Shelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was done in to much of a comical style to portray the harsh life of someone who actually was a slave in Sumer. The Mad Magazine Style art was just wrong wrong wrong for this topic.

[Kelly Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers information regarding slavery in ancient civilizations.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are great for kids learning world history. They are funny yet teach the kids facts about the time period.

[Elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource that is accessible and engaging that I use in the middle school classroom as part of a text set in our Mesopotamia unit.

[Tracy Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably wouldn't have bought it (it was a gift) but it's worth keeping... it gives a fun look at different aspects of Sumerian life.