In the 1920's Dorothy Mills wrote a series of history books for middle school students; The Book of the Ancient World, The Book of the Ancient Greeks, The Book of the Ancient Romans, and The Book of the Middle Ages. For this review Adam, Kaden, and I were given The Book of the Ancient Romans to review, after it was republished with additional illustrations by Memoria Press.

For this review we were given the history book itself, a beautiful 435 page soft cover book filled with chapters of text and black-and-white illustrations and written by Dorothy Mills. We also received a Student Guide, written recently by Matthew Anderson, which contains 77 pages of questions for each chapter of the book with 2 pages devoted to each chapter, and a Teacher Guide, also written by Mr. Anderson, with the answers to the student questions as well as tests to use throughout the study of the book and a final exam . Both these books are soft cover books as well.


Adam (14) and Kaden (12) were able to work through the history book and study guide independently, with me just checking their answers and going over any areas they had issues with. The program is organized so well that I really didn't need to be involved in the day-to-day reading and learning.

The chapters of the history book run anywhere from 5 to about 30 pages, with the larger chapters divided into smaller segments. The boys were able to read the chapters to themselves and answer the study questions in about 20-30 minutes a day, varying a bit based on the length of the chapter.


Ms. Mills combines storytelling and history lessons to make the text interesting and engaging. The boys were easily able to read the lessons and feel that they understood what was going on. Also, the books provide a very comprehensive coverage of the materials, 435 may seem like a lot of pages but they are chock full of great information. The Book of the Ancient Romans begins with the founding of the city and ends with it's fall.

The student's guide has vocabulary words to look up, comprehension questions, activities such as adding to a timeline or creating a map or researching and writing a page, and facts to know.


The boys worked this program very independently, so I asked them to share their opinions of it.

Here is what Kaden (age 12) had to say:

The Book of the Ancient Romans is a fun learning book. You learn about Italy and Rome. You also learn about ancient tribes.

I learned new words that I had to look up.

I think that it was a learning activity that was not too challenging for kids, but it was hard enough so you actually learned about the ancient Romans. The book taught me about how Rome conquered all the places near them and became the biggest and most powerful city of it's time.

I also learned about Romulus and Remus. I learned how they founded Rome and Romulus was the king. I learned about how Romulus killed Remus.


And from Adam (age 14):

In the Book of the Ancient Romans you learn about the past of Rome, about how Rome was founded by Romulus, about the rulers along Rome's greatness. You learn about Rome's battles, how Rome kidnapped the Sabini women and how the Sabini women stopped a war with their fathers and husbands.

This book is very educational and a good home school book. I liked The Book of Ancient Romans and I learned a lot about Rome that I didn't already know.

The Book of the Ancient Romans by Dorothy Mills is available from Memoria Press for $16.95. The set of book, student guide, and teacher guide are available for $39.95. This program is geared toward 6-12th graders.