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Romans Topic Books

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Best Children’s Books for the Romans History Topic 

What did the Romans do for us? The answer is a lot! The Romans history topic is popular in primary schools, and we’ve compiled a list of the best children’s books about the Romans for exploring all sorts of exciting themes, from gladiators and gods to eruptions and emperors.

This booklist offers recommended children’s books about the Romans, selected by the experts at BooksForTopics. Immerse young readers in the sights and smells of Roman Britain with engaging historical fiction like Empire’s End or Vita & the Gladiator, or travel back to Ancient Rome with classicist Caroline Lawrence’s story The Thieves of Ostia.

Children looking for more light-hearted Roman Empire stories and shorter chapter books will enjoy Romans on the Rampage or the popular picturebook choice Escape from Pompeii.

So, if you are looking for recommended books about the Romans, this specially selected reading list for KS2 has got you covered…

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Longer chapter books about the Romans

Leila Rasheed
Chapter book

Empire’s End: A Roman Story is part of the VOICES series that celebrates the lives of BAME protagonists during key eras of British history. This book tells the tale of a young North African girl who sets out on a danger-filled journey to Britain during Roman times. This is a gripping adventure that offers a new perspective into the myriad of Roman narratives shared in schools and is full of details that immerse readers in knowledge of life in Roman times. The story helps to develops an understanding of the Roman world as one that was full of many different cultures, religions and ethnicities.

Tony Bradman
Chapter book

With the Celtic tribes of Ancient Britain leaving no records, we only have the Roman accounts of what happened during Boudicca’s revolt. Tony Bradman has taken details from Tacitus’ description of the Iceni queen and the battles she led in order to create a vivid and gripping story told by Rhianna, who witnesses the events of a turbulent time in British history. This story aims to give young readers an understanding of the motivations that led to the uprising and shows a darker side to Boudicca’s story, giving an opportunity to open up discussion on a range of ideas.

Caroline Lawrence
Chapter book

The first of Caroline Lawrence’s four Roman Quests, Escape from Rome is a completely gripping adventure filled with danger, excitement and some really gritty themes to get stuck into. Taking his siblings with him, twelve-year-old Juba is forced to flee Emperor Domitian in Rome and set off on a journey to find his uncle in Britannia (the edge of the known world). Steeped in interesting historical details and covering some challenging themes including slavery and immigration, this story is thrilling from the very first page and most suitable for Upper Key Stage 2 and beyond.

Ally Sherrick
Chapter book

Utterly compelling, totally immersive, and completely inspired, Ally Sherrick’s latest historical novel is unputdownable. Set in Britain under Roman occupation, the story stars Vita, the daughter of a Roman magistrate. When tragedy strikes her family, she is confronted with a different world to the one she has known, as she experiences what life is like for those who are conquered, rather than the conquerors.

As Vita struggles to solve the mystery of who murdered her father, she must also decide where her allegiances lie. Through her journey, she discovers that people – like Brea, her gladiator friend – are not always what they seem at first and that there is often more that unites us with than divides us from our enemies.

Vita is a very relatable protagonist; honest about her fears and confusion, yet brave and fiery in moments of crisis. Young readers who are aspiring writers will also enjoy the fact that Vita’s passion is for stories – both hearing them and creating them – and that this is a central theme running through the novel.

‘Vita and the Gladiator’ is a perfect book to complement a study of Roman Britain for stronger readers in KS2, exposing them to a thrilling and gripping taste of what life under occupation might have been like. Pupils will recognize and enjoy the depiction of the gladiator arena, as well as the references to Boudica and her revolt against the empire. All in all, this read is highly recommended.

Caroline Lawrence
Chapter book

A gripping novel that provides plenty of background information about life in Ancient Roman times. The plot of The Thieves of Ostia centres around a young girl called Flavia who investigates the mystery of who is killing the dogs in the Roman port of Ostia. This is a popular choice for KS2 classrooms and is part of the well-loved Roman Mysteries series


Shorter chapter books about the Romans

Terry Deary
 & Helen Flook
Chapter book
The year is AD 51 and Bran is a slave, a prisoner of Rome, but dreams of one day returning to his homeland, Britannia, to fight against the Romans. When the proud young slave is overheard criticizing Rome, he is thrown into prison and faces execution the next day. Luckily, his cellmate Caratacus is a very special prisoner indeed - a British chief. He believes he has a way to save both their skins, but he'll need Bran's help. A tale based on a key moment in Roman history, full of Terry Deary's dark humour and dry wit.
Marie Basting
Chapter book

With this brilliant mash-up of LARPing (Live Action Role Play) and ancient history, Marie Basting will have children giggling and learning Latin while they do it! Silvia lives with her Dad in a small cottage by Hadrian’s Wall, where he plans on realising his dream of creating a LARP of epic Roman proportions. The only problem is, as Silvia realises, no one is really going to turn up when he’s not done any advertising. However, when Silvia gets sucked back in time and finds out she is actually one of a large and infamous mythical family, it turns out all of Rome will be coming!

Full of Ancient Roman trivia and Latin asides (with a handy glossary to make sense of them at the end of the book), the story of how Silvia discovers her true demigoddess identity won’t fail to hook in enthusiasts of all things Roman. The plot is fast-paced and contains a particular blend of pre-teen contemporary lingo. For children already familiar with and enjoying a topic on Ancient Rome, it’s a fun read, and may well be a hit with reluctant readers.

If you are looking for a quirky, fun (and just a little bit silly!) addition to classroom shelves for a topic on Ancient Rome then look no further!

Thiago de Moraes
Graphic Novel

A Gladiator Stole My Lunchbox is full of interesting facts woven into a fun, action-packed time travel story set in Ancient Rome.

A young boy from Britain is transported from modern times to ancient Rome. The reader sees the perils and joys of Ancient Rome through the eyes of a modern child – including going to an ancient Roman school, meeting the emperor and tasting delicacies of the day (including honey-dipped dormice!).

The book is colour illustrated including comic strips, maps and full-page spreads. Every page is a delight to turn for curious minds, with anticipation of what you might encounter next! The book is a winning combination for reluctant readers and those who enjoy fact-finding in a story.

Fans of other illustrated chapter books, like Pugs of the Frozen North by Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve, will enjoy this funny historical adventure. Ideal for Y3 onwards…

Non-fiction Romans books for children

James Davies
Non-fiction Picturebook
A picture-book style non-fiction text about the Romans. Each page has a short chunk of text accompanied by simple, bold illustrations or infographics. Humorous and stylish without compromising on factual content, this book is a popular choice with reluctant or younger readers.
David Long
 & Daniel Spacek
Non-fiction

A treasure trove of information about the Ancient Romans presented in a seek-and-find format, with a magnifying glass included.

This fun and interactive book includes different scenes depicting daily life for the Ancient Romans, each with hundreds of miniature cartoon-style figures going about their daily activities. Readers familiar with the Where’s Wally? books will dive right in without hesitation as they search for different characters, animals, symbols and objects that all build up to create a detailed picture of different aspects of the Ancient Roman civilisation.

Each page also contains chunks of text with explanations or facts to add context alongside each scene. This is an appealing and engaging book set to entertain and inform young readers exploring the Romans topic.

David Long
 & Allen Fatimaharan
Non-fiction

If you’re teaching a topic that includes a look at Roman Life then this book will enrich your curriculum and would be useful both when planning and for wider reading and research from students.

After a short introduction to the Roman Empire, on each page we travel back in time to meet a member of Ancient Roman Society, from all walks of life – a diverse selection from slave to Emperor. As they tell their individual stories, we learn about the hierarchy and workings of Roman Society and the everyday lives of many people, including some of the more ‘interesting’ details from history that children love!

As well as gaining a glimpse into the luxurious lives of the rich, we learn about the hard life lived by legionaries from Secundus Nigilius, who often marches 30 miles a day; scribe Cordia Verbis teaches us how she mixes ink from soot and glue; and the Banker, Lucretius Tappo, teaches us the origins of the English word ‘money.’

The final pages of the book include more general information: a map of the Roman Empire, a timeline of key events, lists of famous Romans, inventions and Gods and Goddesses. They also include interactive elements. You can learn Latin and Roman Numerals and there’s a recipe to follow too (thankfully it’s for baking bread and not for the Roman delicacy of dormice dipped in honey!)

Stella Caldwell
 & Eugenia Nobati
Non-fiction

This superb book takes you into the world of the Ancient Romans through the artefacts left behind and shines a light on some of the most fascinating mysteries of the time by focusing on historical sourcework. Every double page features an object from history (themed around topics such as daily life, mythology, food, inventions, and famous objects such as mosaics and chariots) with text split into bullet points, a fact file about the relics shown and stunning artwork showing the different artefacts in detail.

Each fact file gives today’s location of the artefact and a size guide for reference. A hand-drawn map with picture symbols at the back of the book is also useful as it shows where these objects were found and allows the reader to understand how the items are connected. Moreover, the text is written in short sentences organised by bullet points means that it’s easy to digest the information being presented. The illustrations are excellent and, given that there aren’t any photos in this book, they provide a detailed view of the objects. A recommendable non-fiction book covering a comprehensive range of areas likely to come up in a KS2 history topic on Ancient Rome.

Tegen Evans
 & Tom Froese
Non-fiction
Discover the secrets of the Roman Army in this fascinating gift book from the British Museum.What was a Roman legion? How exactly did soldiers train for battle? And why did they have to 'march like a tortoise'? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in this complete guide to life in the Roman army. Filled with fascinating facts and grisly detail, you'll uncover what life was like in the army camp, how soldiers planned a siege and even why they catapulted creepy-crawlies at the enemy!With silver foil on the cover and quirky colour illustrations on every page by award-winning artist Tom Froese, children aged 6+ will love learning about one of ancient Rome's most grisly and gripping subjects.

David Owen
 & Steph Marshall
Non-fiction

If you are teaching the Romans in primary school, this book would be an excellent investment. Each double page spread unpacks a different aspect of Roman society, nominally introduced by a young Roman following a different path through life. We meet farmers and butchers, engineers, lawyers and merchants as well as priestesses, soldiers and charioteers. Overall, it builds a rich picture of different experiences, from slave to emperor’s daughter.

The layout is clear, with the text broken into sensible chunks and accompanied by attractive illustrations. It looks engaging for younger readers as well as being easy to dip in and out of to discover more about particular topics. The history of Rome being a special subject of mine, I read it with an eye open for misconceptions but I was impressed by how well it had been researched and by the depth and reliability of the information. I also appreciated the odd snippet of Latin.

Like all books on the Romans, it is rather light on explicit coverage of the diversity of the Roman Empire which facilitated travel, prosperity and cultural exchange across Asia, Africa and Europe. In its later phases, there were at least some men with Asian and African heritage at the highest levels of Roman society; the only non-European characters I could identify here were Hannibal and Abbas, a soldier from Syria. That said, here’s a title with lots to offer. It’s a well-written and accurate introduction to help children build a good picture of Roman life. It’s also an appealing and accessible information book for children to pick up, read and enjoy in its own right. Don’t limit it to history lessons – recommend it to children who prefer fact to fiction and are ready to move beyond Horrible Histories.

Picturebooks and graphic novels about the Romans

Christina Balit
Picturebook

Escape from Pompeii tells the story of a young boy called Tranio who lives in Pompeii at the time of the famous eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. This captivating picture book allows readers to follow the footsteps of Tranio and his friend Livia as they come to terms with the destruction of their city and find their own routes to freedom.

There is also an accompanying 2-week English unit available from KS2History.

Marcia Williams
Graphic Novel Non-fiction
Marcia Williams embraces the Romans topic with her distinctive comic-book style. This informative text covers a range of sub-topics featuring key people, places and myths. This is a book with a high level of visual appeal and is particularly popular for engaging reluctant readers.
Frances Durkin
 & Grace Cooke
Graphic Novel

This engaging book is a fun hybrid between graphic novel, activity book and information text. The story, told in graphic novel form, follows a group of friends who travel back in time and explore Ancient Rome. At various different points in the story there are relevant puzzles, fact boxes, activities and project ideas. This book has a high visual appeal and is a great addition to your library of Roman topic books.

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Guidance: Recommended Romans Topic Books for Children

What are the best Romans books for schools and classrooms?

Our Romans topic booklist for KS2 features a curated selection of books for your next primary school history topic. With fictional stories about life in the Roman Empire like classroom favourite The Roman Mysteries series, Romans picturebooks including Escape from Pompeii and Roman themed comic books including the graphic-novel-style Gods, Emperors and Dormice, there are plenty of quality text options for schools to choose from for this topic.

Children looking to get their heads around the artefacts and treasures that tell us about Ancient Rome should try the impressive non-fiction book The Magnificent Book of Treasures.

The BooksforTopics Romans Booklist has everything you need to make your history topic an epic success! Schools can buy full packs of the books via Peters.

Which chapter books would you recommend about the Romans?

Children in upper KS2 who can handle complex themes about empire, race, migration and class will find fulfilment in some of the longer chapter books on this booklist. Try Empire’s End to widen readers’ perspectives on the Roman Empire – a story that demonstrates how the Roman world was full of many different cultures, religions and ethnicities. The most advanced readers in KS2 will enjoy Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Quest series, which gets right under the skin of the harsh realities of Roman Britain.

Children in lower KS2 may be better suited to shorter chapter books with a little more humour and a little less gore. My Family and Other Romans is one of the newer books on this reading list and adds a good dose of humour to some rich historical detail about Ancient Rome – as does A Gladiator Stole My Lunchbox.

Teachers looking to introduce their classes to the story of Boudica might like to try Boudica’s Army or Tony Bradman’s Queen of Darkness.

Which are the best children’s non-fiction books about the Romans?

We recommend Meet the Ancient Romans for a simple introduction to the world of the Romans. Humorous and stylish without compromising on factual content, this book is a popular choice with reluctant or younger readers.

For something that digs deeper into the diversity of the Roman world, try We Are the Romans by David Long. If you are teaching a topic that includes a look at Roman Life, our review panel reports that this book will enrich your curriculum and would be useful both when planning and for wider reading from students.

For a fun, interactive non-fiction text that children love to pore over, try Romans Magnified – a seek-and-find introduction the the Roman world with plenty of historical detail to discuss.

Are lesson plans or resources available for any of the recommended KS2 Romans books?

You’ll notice that some of the books we select for our booklists also feature downloadable resources. These are usually worksheets or teaching packs that have been provided by our publishing partners. Teachers looking for Romans planning for Ks2 could try the guided reading notes that come with My Family and Other Romans, offering chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, writing opportunities and cross-curricular ideas for KS2 teachers.

For Year 3 or Year 4 Romans planning, we’d recommend the lesson plans produced by KS2History to accompany Escape from Pompeii, which forms a 2-week literacy unit for lower KS2. A complete Romans KS2 history unit is also available from the same website.

How are the books for the BooksForTopics history curriculum booklists selected?

Each of our history topic booklists contains a carefully curated selection of books to support the teaching of the primary curriculum. When we are assessing the quality of books to consider them for our website, we take into account a number of factors – including age suitability, quality of text, visual appeal, readability, level of interest for children, underlying values, curriculum relevance and print production quality. Our thorough analysis of the primary curriculum helps us to select the more relevant books for schools teaching the topic.

In the case of the Romans topic, the National Curriculum for KS2 states that pupils should be taught about ‘the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain.’ This Romans booklist includes children’s fiction and non-fiction texts that cover wider themes of empire, impact and the Roman world – including its diversity – as well as stories that relate specifically to the Romans in Britain. The books include topics about the Roman invasion, the power of the Roman army, Boudica’s resistance, classical mythology and the Romanisation of British culture.

Our review panel of teachers and education experts provides information about which books support the curriculum effectively, as well as writing detailed reviews for some of the books that we feature too. In addition to our Review Panel feedback and curriculum analysis, we work with a team of booksellers to make sure that the books on our lists are readily available from publishers in order to supply them to schools and classrooms. Schools can buy full packs of most of our topic booklists directly from Peters.

Which other booklists for KS2 history topics are available?

Travel back in time with our handpicked selection of recommended children’s books about history topics. From books for children about the Vikings and Victorians to topic books about Great Fires and Ancient Greeks, we’ve got oodles of book recommendations to support your topic.

Our booklists span the range of the KS2 history curriculum, as well as a selection of additional topics that offer further depth and historical interest.

For children learning about the earliest civilisations, we’ve got book recommendations for prehistory topics like Stone Age Britain, as well as books about ancient civilizations from around the world, like the Ancient Egyptians topic booklist and books about the Ancient Greeks.

The early to middle ages are well covered in our booklists about invaders and settlers and Tudors, whereas our Victorians topic book recommendations and WW2 booklists bring readers up to speed with more modern history units.

Some of our history booklists are more thematic and span larger time periods, such as our Black British History booklist or the Crime and Punishment topic booklist.

Be sure to check out our full range of topic booklists if you are looking for children’s books themed around a particular history topic. Here are a few popular favourites you might also like:

Where can I purchase the books on the BooksForTopics Romans booklist?

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