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Topic: Stone Age to Iron Age

Chapter book

Set 17,300 years ago in Lascaux in France, this is fast-paced Stone Age adventure from the best-selling author of Horrible Histories. Willow isn’t the strongest or fastest in his tribe, he is careful and clever. But that’s not what matters to the other boys. All they care about who is the best hunter, and who can provide meat for the tribe. So when the brawny and brash Bull takes over as the tribe’s chief, it’s going to take all of Willow’s wits to survive.
An exciting tale based on real historical and archaeological evidence, this story is full of Terry Deary’s imaginative style and dry wit. With helpful reading notes to extend learning, this book is the perfect springboard for further study of the Stone Age under the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum.

Non-fiction

If you imagined that all Stone Age people lived in caves, were not very clever, not very clean and said “Ugg” a lot, then think again. Marking the start of all human history, the Stone Age lasted around 3.5 million years (the last part of that was only 71 grand parents ago!). Delve into that incredible time with this book packed full of amazing facts, information, crafts, storytelling and myth debunking to find out what it was really like to live as a hunter gatherer. Dotted through the book are step-by-step craft activities and recipes that give you first-hand experience of some vital Stone Age skills making a Mesolithic shelter, fat lamps, a digging stick, creating cave art, making a bow and arrow and a fishing hook are just a few.

Chapter book

Wolf struggles to fit into his village. He s not strong like his brother or a natural leader like his father. Every day he just tries to keep his head down. That is until a sacred spear head is stolen. Wolf is cast out, seen as the reason for its disappearance. With no one but his trusty dog, Shadow, to join him, Wolf vows to find the stolen spear and restore his honour. But Wolf has never left the village before and the world beyond the sea is a complete unknown… where will this journey take him and what secrets will he uncover? Join Wolf on his hunt for the spear, as he journeys from the village now known as Skara Brae to a wider, ancient world on the cusp of a new age.

Best Books for the Stone Age to Iron Age Topic

From stone circles and woolly mammoths to hill forts and roundhouses, the Stone Age to Iron Age history topic is such an interesting one to dig into. We’ve put together a list of the best children’s books about the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages to help transport readers back to prehistoric times…

This history curriculum booklist offers recommended children’s books about the period of British prehistory from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, selected by the experts at BooksForTopics. Step back in time to discover the Secrets of Stonehenge, visit the prehisotic settlement of Skara Brae in The Boy With the Bronze Axe or nestle into an Iron Age hill fort in Pitch Invasion.

Teachers looking for a shorter picture book with lots of scope for discussion and writing opportunities will enjoy the classroom favourite Stone Age Boy.

So, if you are looking for recommended children’s books about the Stone Age, this specially selected reading list for KS2 is the right place to start…

Picturebook

In 1994, the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc was discovered, filled with the oldest known drawings in existence at that time, made 30,000 years ago. In that same cave, prehistoric footprints were discovered: those of an 8-year-old child and a wolf. From these astonishing facts, THE FIRST DRAWING was born.

In this beautiful picture book, Caldecott Medal-winning author/illustrator Mordicai Gerstein imagines one possible way drawing was invented. The young boy that stars in this story has such a vivid imagination that he sees images everywhere – clouds, stones and smoke look like animals to him. His parents, however, don’t share his enthusiasm and wish he would be more down to earth. However the boy cannot contain his enthusiasm and one night grabs a smoky stick and “traces” the image he sees on a cave wall. Lo and behold: the world’s first drawing.

The First Drawing is a story sure to inspire any artist, young or old, as well as anyone with a dream to do something new and different.

Non-fiction

Find out all about the first Britons, nomadic hunter-gatherers who came from mainland Europe to settle in England bringing wooden spears, flint handaxes and animals with them.

Stone Age to Iron Age tells the story of how these people settled and began farming the land. They built villages of timber and stone houses such as Skara Brae on Orkney. Stonehenge is perhaps the most famous monument of this period, a technological marvel of the time built by raising over 80 blue stones to create the ‘henge’.

The Bronze Age bought with it metalworking using copper, tin and gold to make tools and beautiful everyday objects. The Iron Age was known for its hill forts, farming and art and culture.

Contains maps, paintings, artefacts and photographs to show how early Britons lived.

Chapter book

The Thing sitting in the corner seemed to be interested. It got up and moved towards Barney, into the light. Barney was glad to see it was Somebody after all. Funny way to dress though, he thought, rabbit-skins round the middle and no shoes or socks.

Barney spends a lot of time by himself, and often goes wandering off alone. One day he is exploring by the edge of an old chalk-pit, when it gives way. Finding himself in some sort of cave, Barney is astonished to discover a ‘somebody’ living there: somebody with a lot of shaggy hair and two bright black eyes, wearing a rabbit skin and speaking in grunts.

Barney names him Stig, and the two quickly become best friends. Of course nobody believes Barney when he tells his family all about Stig. But Barney doesn’t care. He and Stig are far too busy having a brilliant series of unforgettable adventures.

Much-beloved by children for generations, Stig of the Dump is the ultimate story about the joyful freedom of mucking around outdoors, having fun away from the grown-ups…!

Chapter book

Kathleen Fidler’s classic story is set in the ancient Stone Age village of Skara Brae on Orkney. This is a fascinating and vividly portrayed story of life nearly 3,000 years ago.

Kali and Brockan are in trouble. They have been using their stone axes to chip limpets off the rocks, but they’ve gone too far out and find themselves trapped by the tides. Then, an unexpected rescuer appears, a strange boy in a strange boat, carrying a strangely sharp axe of a type they have never seen before.

Conflict arises as the village of Skara must decide what to do with the new ideas and practices that the boy brings. As a deadly storm threatens, the very survival of the village is in doubt.

Step back into the Stone Age and learn about the daily life and rituals of the ancient village of Skara Brae in this compelling, fictional account of the famous Orkney settlement. Vivid descriptions and accurate historical details bring the village to life and make this an ideal choice for those studying the Stone Age curriculum.

Chapter bookDyslexia-friendly

A tense Seth is waiting to hear if his mum’s got the ‘all-clear’. But instead of relaxing in Cornwall, Seth is haunted by visions. Heads on spikes – bloodied and rotten, eyes pecked out – surrounding an Iron Age hill fort to keep intruders away. When Seth meets two football-crazy brothers from Aleppo their stories offer him a new sense of courage. Can he look death in the face and restore calm to the present? Exciting finale to the Defenders trilogy.

Picturebook

Travel 20,000 years into the past and discover what life as a caveman was like in this prehistoric picture book by a prodigiously talented artist.

One day a little boy is walking along when he trips, stumbles and falls … into the Stone Age! He meets a girl his own age and her tribe, and learns all about their way of life. He watches them make tools, clothes and weapons. He sees how they hunt, fish, cook, celebrate – and even how they paint on the walls of caves. But when a furious cave bear attacks, he wakes up back in his own time where everyone tells him it was only a dream. But was it?

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