The Roman Twins

by Roy Gerrard

Maximus and Vanilla, twin slaves, use all their wits to escape their cruel master, Slobbus Pompius.

Genres: Picture Books

Hardcover

First published September 25, 1998

Reviews

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quirky, rhymed story about twin slaves. The backgrounds are pretty accurate though the names are not. The twins, Maximillian and Vanilla, are slaves to the Slobbius patrician couple, but when Slobbius decides to have his horse killed for meat, the twins steal it, and themselves. They are sheltered by a plebian couple. Then they race the horse in a chariot race, win, and leave the emperor in a conflict between their owners and the race winners. However, when the Ostrogoths attack, the two slaves and two plebes volunteer to destroy the bridge, while defending it from the Ostrogoths. As a result they are freed and rewarded.

The illustrations are quaintly cute but frankly I think this would be more appealing for grownups or someone really interested in roman history than kids. As someone points out, there's definitely an echo of Horatius at the bridge in the story. Might be fun to get out from the library when working on a homeschool unit on Rome, though.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Dexter (7yo) and I were reading about the rise of the Roman Empire I found this book pretty timely. It's an interesting-enough story about two slaves who work for an unbearable master and his wife so they end up stealing his horse, running away, winning a chariot race, and helping a new friend defeat the invading barbarians. Yep, a lot of ground to cover in rhyming verse...

Illustrations are detailed and interesting.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids enjoyed it. But it really bugged them too. We'd already read the story of Horatio at the bridge and this is a retelling of that, fairly mangled. That bugged them a lot. But they did think it was "good". The illustrations are rather cartoonish, in a not so good kind of way.

I don't think we'll be using it next time through.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The rhyming was too much. I couldn't really get past that...