Roman Invasion: A British Boy, AD 84

My Story: Boys

by Jim Eldridge

It's AD 84 when Bran, a prince of the Carvetii tribe, is captured by the Romans. A legion of soldiers is marching east, to build military road. It's hostile country, and Bran is to go with the as a hostage to ensure the legion's safety ...but no one is safe in newly conquered Britain.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Diary, Middle Grade, Young Adult, School, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Jim Eldridge is the author of many books for children, including titles in the My Story series, the Warpath books, and How to Handle Grown-Ups. He has had 250 TV scripts broadcast in the UK and internationally for children's and teen television, and is also the creator and writer of Radio 4's long-running comedy-drama series, King Street Junior.

Reviews

[Hallie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a slightly-edited version of what I wrote on LJ when I read this book 5 years ago, having been delighted to stumble across it in a bookshop - the title made it very clear that we could expect a certain ideological slant. What we'd been finding, and what continued to hold true, is that books about Roman Britain written in the 1950s were generally pro-Roman (though Rosemary Sutcliff, at least, was pro in a very nuanced way), while those written in the 2000s tended to be decidedly anti-Roman. This book provided one or two of my favourite history-fail lines of the entire project.

The hero, Bran, an 11-year-old "prince" of a British tribe, is given to declaiming (a lot) about how he's a British warrior, and will NEVER submit to the Romans, but will die first. Unfortunately, the first time his tribe finds a group of Roman soldiers small enough to take on (which they do after hiding behind trees so they have both greater numbers and the element of surprise), he, his mother (warrior Queen), his two male cousins and his 8 year old sister (brought into this battle because, as his mother says, the British LOVE their families and don't leave them behind like the Romans) are all taken prisoner, uninjured. And his mother proceeds to have a long conversation with the Roman govenor -- in Latin. (??) The upshot of this conversation is that Bran will be held hostage so his tribe won't attack the Romans as they go on their merry way, building a road.

Bran gets quite friendly with the Greek surveyor working on the road the Roman army is building. This man has his mute nephew with him and tells Bran that the boy will have a good career as a surveyor, since he can communicate by drawing. "I said nothing to this, just ate my food, but Talos and Pentheus must have known what I was thinking. The Romans weren't known for being caring to people with disabilities."

I'm just going to put that one up again: The Romans weren't known for being caring to people with disabilities. (Glad to see he'd been reading the British Central Tribal policy papers on disability awareness.) (Apparently my need to be sarcastic about this book hasn't yet diminished.)

Another unintentionallly comic moment comes when Bran accidentally kills a Brigantes warrior who attacked the Roman camp, while trying to protect the nephew (who had previously saved Bran's life). It's understandable that he might feel bad about it, in an enemy-of-my-enemy way, but having said a few pages before that the Britons were always fighting among themselves anyway, we get this:

My heart was heavy. I had committed a sin, one for which I should have died. And yet I was still alive. Was this to be part of my punishment: the torture of waiting?

[next morning, when asked how he is...]

"I am cursed," I said. "I am waiting for the Goddess to send her messengers to kill me and carry my soul to hell for what I have done."

The Goddess, who's going to send him to hell (???) for committing a sin (ditto), is Brigit. Yup, a Goddess well known for killing her followers and sending their souls to -- oh, you know...

[Freya · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok

[Matilda Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

11 year old Bran is a British boy from the Brigantes tribe. When the Romans invade, he is taken prisoner. His mum and sister are held hostage, so if Bran steps out of line, they will be murdered. He sleeps in a tent with two other prisoners - Greek citizens. Bran feels safe with them, to talk and share secrets, since they're not exactly Romans.

But Bran has bigger problems - he has to observe the Roman ways. They build roads with drainage systems, long, straight roads, so they can always see ahead and look out for enemy attacks. Bran plans to use the Romans' knowledge against them, but soon he discovers most of their knowledge belongs to the Greeks! They have copied and pretended they invented/discovered them!

Bran knows the Romans are liars and cheats, but does he think they're stupid? No, he admits the Romans are a pretty clever bunch. They're fierce, clever and.. well, just AMAZING.

Through reading this book, I felt as though I was reading facts about the Roman Empire in a fun way.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story gave me Game of Thrones vibes. Bran did get repetitive at times and was very stubborn, though I suppose that fits his character. The epilogue sneaks up on you as it’s not distinguished from the other chapters.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim Eldridge can certainly write good stories. This is the second book I've read of his, the first being The Trenches. Both books are an excellent read although I found The Trenches more interesting.

[Tessie Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ze série Můj příběh jsem přečetla snad všechny,co u nás vyšly.Tato se mi zas tak moc nelíbila,ale nebyla zas průměrná.Zřejmě to bude tím,že se mi líbí více z pohledu dívek.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book to read. I love our history!

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars: Good.
This book wasn’t like the other my story books because it’s not a diary but I still enjoyed it.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about the adventures of a Celtic prince taken captive by the Romans in 84AD and used as a hostage as they build the Stanegate road just south of what would later be Hadrian's wall.

This would be a good historical account for primary school children studying the Romans in school. As an adventure it was lacking though. Some stuff happened but this was more a series of things that happened than an engaging story. Most children will probably prefer Caroline Lawrence's "Roman Mysteries", although this one backs a lot of good educational content into a small space.

[Molly]

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

[Drayson]

How would you feel if you were captured by the Romans and your mom and sister were killed? How would you feel if you were forced to work on building the road? Roman Invasion 84 AD is written by Jim Eldrige. The British prince (Brain) is captured by the Romans and has to work with Talos and Pentheus on building road. I recommend this book to anyone how likes war and traveling.

[Erin]

FIC ELD; War; Rome-history; Great Britain- History; June 2011

[Liam Millar · Rating 5 out of 5]

cool

[Delaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very violent book.

[Cem Ucer]

Enjoyed it a lot and found it funny.

[Grace Sargeant · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book :-)