Prose-y (not encyclopedia-y) World History Books for Kids?

September 6, 2023 10:07 AM

Are there any good books out there that are about world history topics (anything from ancient civilizations to 20th century wars or beyond) in a prose style, geared towards kids (specifically around a 6th grade reading level)? We have the People's History of the United States but that's US History. There's loads of historical fiction books out there but we're looking for something that's straight non-fiction. Thanks!
posted by Anonymousness to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

You want A Little History of the World by EH Gombrich. It was written right after WWII, i think, but only recently translated into English. (DEF don't skip the introduction / authors notes, they are important.)
posted by capnsue at 10:51 AM on September 6, 2023

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series, Horrible History series, first second's history series
posted by Geameade at 12:31 PM on September 6, 2023

Diary of Anne Frank? I think there's a graphic novel version of it too.

There's lots of WWII books that aren't necessarily geared towards kids but are at a pretty decent reading level, such as "Anne Frank Remembered" by her helper Miep Gies, who died fairly recently at age 100. Also "Night" by Elie Wiesel and "Fragments of Isabella" by Isabella Leitner, which are short (I read them in junior high school), and one of the many biographies of Oskar Schindler.
posted by Melismata at 1:24 PM on September 6, 2023

Could you ask your local children's librarian? They know what's available, what's popular, what's good and they get questions like this all the time.
posted by Geameade at 3:47 PM on September 6, 2023

I read The Story of Mankind as a (nerdy) kid based on the Newbery Medal on its cover. I recall it being readable if not exactly gripping. The original version was written in 1922 (!) so YMMV, but there are several newer editions that might not be too dated.

From the Wikipedia page, it apparently won the first Newberry ever. Huh.
posted by ropeladder at 6:16 PM on September 6, 2023

A Short History of the World [1922] by H.G. Wells was republished by Penguin in 2006. It is a précis of his The Outline of History, - Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind [1920].
Odd how so many of these books are 100 years old. Folks were more certain about what/who mattered back then; and could get it all down in black & white.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:25 AM on September 7, 2023 [1 favorite]