Can anyone please recommend some good books on Roman history for a 12 yr old?

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DD has just started secondary school and is learning latin for the first time.

They will be studying Roman civilisation in addition to the language.

I would like to buy her one or two non-fiction books so she can read around the subject and perhaps a Roman based novel suitable for someone her age?

(I have a distant memory of Rosemary Sutcliffe writing bks on this subject)

DD is a big reader, but is at that awkward age where she is turned off by anything that is too obviously babyish but is equally uninspired by long pages of boring plain text ie she is not ready for adult history books quite yet.

Any pointers or suggestions gratefully received!

I bet there is a book from the scholastic 'my story' series set in Roman times. My dd (11) loves the Tudor ones.

Thanks SavoyCabbage I'll investigate.

Tried to have a look on Amazon uk but their search engine is woeful.

Have you heard of the History of Rome podcast?

thehistoryofrome.typepad.com

If you go back in the archive to 2007 when it started, you'll get an overview of Roman history and civilisation. It is considered to be the best and most approachable podcast on the subject.

Otherwise "The Eagle of the Ninth" by Rosemary Sutcliffe is a good starting point.

Thank you very much for those pointers Greenhill. Much appreciated. And dd will love the fact that is a podcast!

Ah yes, I remember 'Eagle of the Ninth' now!!

Thanks again.

Meant to say, no, had not heard of it at all (we are not in the UK education system) so link much appreciated.

Caroline Lawrence's "Roman Mysteries" series is excellent for her age group.

Thank you Thelowking will definitely seek them out.

Do you want her to read about Roman civilisation, or Roman history? You mention both. For civilisation and some history, Peter Connolly's "The Ancient City" is excellent - and covers both Rome and Athens, too. Plenty of excellent colour pictures, but it is detailed enough to be used up to and including GCSE level.

Good luck - hope she is inspired!

Yes, she will be studying both, and that's another marvellous recommendation by the sound of it, thank you again TheLowKing

[Mumsnet is splendid for this sort of thing!]

Yes, the Roman Mysteries are great - she may like the fact that the main character (Flavia) is a bit younger than her at the start of the series but gets older as the series progresses so they're not 'children's books' in that sense.

I googled and came across this page which has a list of historical novels by time period/region.

Thank you . She seems pretty enthusiastic so far!

Tribpot well that's one of dd's Christmas presents sorted then! She will love following the central character as she ages!

And that is another terrific link - thank you very much - who knew such a wealth of apposite info was out there!

English Heritage have some good books on Roman Britain. Which course is she following? If you want to visit some sites Fishbourne, Cirencester, Bath, Silchester, Chester, York, St Albans, Colchester, Lullingstone amongst others have significant remains to be seen.

Thank you for info LIZS, the course she is following is a French one, 'Aditus' as we are abroad.

As it happens, we visited Colchester this summer, went to York a couple of years back and Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall, when she was too small to remember, intending to re-visit!

"I Claudius" can't be too far off.

Asterix, for a bit of Gaulish fun?

Not books, but loads of the Time Team programmes are excavating Roman remains (and they're easy to find on Youtube), nice family viewing.

Is she mature enough for the Falco books by Lindsey Davis?