My Favorite Picture Books for Teaching Ancient History

Stories are powerful. They have the ability to share knowledge in a fun, engaging way. 
 
Most young children are eager for story time. It’s fairly easy to manage students in their primary years as they all huddle on the carpet in front of their teacher, eager for a new story. 
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 But how do you use the power of picture books with older children? 
 
Even if the students are 12 years old, and may not want to admit it, most of them still enjoy a good story. And there are plenty of picture books out there that relate to 12 year olds and their current curriculum of study. 
 
There are two picture books in particular, that I really enjoy reading with my 6thgraders. 

​The first is Weslandia by Paul Fleischman. This is an awesome story about a young boy who embraces his creative side and creates his own civilization. It is an ideal story for introducing civilizations and all their working parts. 
 
I read this story to my students near the end of my prehistory unit, as we are learning about permanent settlements, just before we start our unit on Mesopotamia. 
 
It gets students thinking and quite excited! During the reading, I have students keep a list of all the things they noticed about the character’s society. After reading the book we discuss the different items students wrote down. Then I allow my students to embrace their own creativity and write about what their own society might look like. 
 
This activity makes me smile, for little do my students know this is exactly what they will be doing at the end of the school year for our final project!

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​The second picture book I enjoy using in my classroom is Gilgamesh the King by Ludmila Zeman. My primary purpose of using this story, is to help students understand the intense relationship between government and religion during ancient times. 
 
Before we begin I pose the question to them: “While we are reading, I want you to think about this – what is the connection between government and religion?” And then I ask them to write their response to this very question immediately after the story. 
 
The story of Gilgamesh comes from the Library of Ashurbanipal from ancient Mesopotamia. It is the perfect introduction to our Mesopotamian unit.
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​But how do you manage a class of 12 year old during a read-aloud?

It seems silly to me, to expect them to sit on the floor. They are all so big! And it seems silly to me, to hold the book high up for students to see when they are so far away, even sitting in their desks. 
 
Then it finally dawned on me. And the idea was so brilliant, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. 
 
What I needed was bigger pictures from the book. 
 
How do you accomplish that? It’s actually very simple…
 
First – take pictures with a camera – even your phone will work. Take pictures of each of the illustrations from the book. 
 
Second – transfer those pictures to your computer. 
 
Third – Make a PowerPoint presentation using the pictures. The first slide is always the cover of the book. 
 
Now my students can sit comfortably in their normal seats during story time. While I read to them – from anywhere in the room I wish – I use my remote to change slides as I change pages during the story.
 
Most often I rotate around the room, as is my nature during any lesson. The large pictures on the projector screen are a perfect way for my students to remain engaged during the story!
 
I have found my students enjoy this method of story-telling immensely. I have even used this idea for other stories that I like to read with to them throughout the year.
 
All you need to do is gather pictures that correlate to the story you are reading. 
 
The story of Buddha, The Persian Wars, and The Peloponnesian Wars are a few examples of other stories I have presented in similar ways. I can usually find relatable pictures from other sources like informational texts. 



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Teaching with Textbooks | Teach Like Midgley

I’m Hillary Midgley, and I help 6th-grade teachers reclaim their weekends by providing a 7-part framework for Ancient History that actually works. New here? Start with the Roadmap.
*Teach Like Midgley contains affiliate links with Amazon. An affiliate link simply means that if you click through and purchase (costs you nothing extra) Midgley gets a few pennies too. If you appreciate the information provided here, shopping through these links are a great way to help keep us creating and sharing.