Franklin Watts ISBN 97811445157313. £8.99
This colourful, well illustrated, visually appealing addition to the Time Travel Guides series draws in all the major strands of Roman daily life such as religion, housing, leisure, entertainment and military matters, and puts these in the context of Roman Britain, with particular reference to Londinium itself. Even the Latin language gets a brief mention by way of useful expressions for the putative young time traveller, amongst which appears ‘vescere bracis meis!’ (‘Eat my pants!’). This expression, and ‘bring a barf bag’, were new to me; but I’m old, and no doubt these have greater resonance with the 9-11 year-olds for whom this book seems eminently well suited. There is a handy reference section at the end featuring a glossary, further resources and an index. My only cavil is the misspelling of Camulodunum (Colchester) as Camelodunum (page 7). The art work and design elements, edited by Sarah Silver, are first class, and Ben Hubbard’s text is wide-ranging, engaging and well pitched. Warmly recommended.
Bob Bass
