Rating: 
Summary: Glorifies man, ignores God's Hand in History
Review: Right from the beginning, with the "definition" of history you are given the author's world view. History is treated as a series of facts, events, and people-thereby glorifying man and his knowledge and successes APART from a Providential view of history which recognizes God's Hand in history- properly defined has His Story!
As for the writing style-the narrative is most appropriate for early elementary. The narrative is engaging for that age set and could be self read, though it lends itself to a read-aloud.
Overall, this volume is inappropriate for a Christian home educator. I would look into something from Foundation for American Christian Education, Mantle Ministries, Beautiful Feet Books or the like in lieu.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch your kids fall in love with history!
Review: Susan Wise Bauer has done a wonderful job of making ancient history accessible to child and adult alike. My second grader has absorbed history better with this text than with any other. She looks forward to reading the next chapter and answering questions and doing the fun projects from the activity book(an absolute must when using the text) . I have found that the activity book is like a FIAR curriculum. Each chapter is another unit study, touching on geography, historical significance, and cultural aspects of that period of time.
I also appreciate the non-biased approach Susan has taken. (BTW, C.E. has also been defined and accepted as Christian Era as well as Common Era - it depends on your own bias...)
This historical combo keeps my daughter's attention while helping her to remember facts, people and places in ancient times. I even found a note she had written during one of her play sessions addressed to King Narmer and talking about the ensuing battle! Who is King Narmer? Read the book!!!
Rating:
Summary: Get Ready for Your Kids to Fall In Love with History
Review: Susan Wise Bauer has written an excellent book. It is easy to read and will thrill any young grade shooler. Each historical fact is talked about accurately and in a way that grabs the attention of the young scholar. Combine with the Story of the World activity book and you will have quite the little history buff.
Rating: 
Summary: A Nice Book that Needs a New Edition
Review: Susan Wise Bauer's WELL-TRAINED MIND (abbreviated WTM) is my primary reference as an "eclectic" homeschooler. It is a clear & detailed guide to Ms. Bauer's classical schooling regimen. We immediately purchased THE STORY OF THE WORLD (abbreviated SOTW), and its companion activity guide, when they were released so that we could follow Ms. Bauer's history outline. SOTW is the best compilation of ancient history in one text for primary grade children I have seen. Information is presented simply & succinctly. The chapters are written in narrative form & sometimes take a child's perspective, making them more engaging for youngsters. Ms. Bauer has accomplished the difficult task of creating material young children can comprehend without being condescending. That said, I must point out some drawbacks in this text. Many reviews comment that SOTW contains spelling errors & seems as if it were rushed to print. I must agree - some chapters seem thoughtfully written while others are superficial or imcomplete. If you cross reference WTM with SOTW, some of the key historical figures in the history outline of WTM are not covered in SOTW (Socrates, Laotse, etc.)!!! Most frustrating, the index of SOTW contains many errors & omissions (example: Hannibal is listed on page 235, but appears on 229 - confusing if you're looking for references). Fortunately, proofreading errors are easily remedied in future editions. And hopefully, Ms. Bauer will flesh out some sections. Even with its faults, The Story of the World is a helpful & compelling text. SOTW provides a much needed overview of ancient world history for young children. It provides an excellent framework for parents designing a history curriculum.
Rating:
Summary: The Story of the World leaves students begging for more!
Review: The Story of the World not only gives readers a wonderful story, it also provides vivid pieces of history through the characters. This book is a very readable narrative that tells the story of ancient times by balancing a massive amount of history with solid characterization. From page to page there is a genuine flavor of the period and of the people who made it what it was. The Curriculum Guide and Activity Book has many hands-on projects for children of all ages. These projects range from coloring pages, to maps, to crafts and games. Each lesson provides many activities to choose from. I highly recommend The Story of the World and its curriculum guide! Elementary School Teacher and
Former Professor of Reading
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Rating:
Summary: Really excellent spine and introduction to World History
Review: This book and activity guide just made all the difference to our homeschool. It is interesting, not bogged with too much detail but provides a wonderful overview of World history in Ancient times, for the modern child, which can provide a springboard for further research and reading. I cant recommnd it highly enough, and we are almost finished and very excited about moving on to Medieval History (SOTW 2). My kids really love history because of this book, and my reading-resistant boy now reads historical novels because he loves history. Yay!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!!!!
Review: This book is an anwer to hundreds of hours of searching. It is very interesting, even for a young elementary child--and quite thorough. I have been on the verge of writing something like this for years and am glad someone else did it first. It is written in a conversational tone, like a mother telling a story to a child. It ties the child's life to the study of history. A first grader who likes to listen to stories would do well with it, but it would work even better with any history-phobic older elementary children. I will probably even have my Junior High school kids read quickly through it as an easy, fun review or overview. I have homeschooled for five years and wish I had had it sooner! Christian homeschoolers, however, may not find it Bible-centered enough. A few Bible stories are woven in (Abraham, Joseph, etc.), but that is not the emphasis and the telling of those stories isn't always exactly as told in the Bible. I just expand and alter those sections a little for my kids when we read. But, the book is not evolutionary either. It simply begins with Nomads at about 6000 B.C. (I just alter the date a little for my kids) then quickly moves into ancient civilizations. The book should be easily adaptable to either a Biblical or Secular curriculum--and it's worth the little bit of adaption because it is otherwise wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic - Mine went in the garbage
Review: This book is being marketed as a history book but it is sparse in factual history. It includes a plethora of mythological legends, false teachings (Buddha), interspersed with history and no way to tell the difference. It claims to be chronological but it is not. It confusingly jumps back thousands of years. The narration is dumbed down, the tone is condescending.
If you are a Christian homeschooler wanting to see God's hand in history you have come to the wrong place. This is NOT written from a Christian world view (obvious from the author's the "definition of history in the Introduction). The small amount of Bible history (an obvious token) is wrong. Jesus' resurrection is treated as a legend. The book reports Abraham father left Ur because he was going to be attacked??(not in the Bible).
This book needs a good editor. Most sentences ends with an exclamation point. The author was in such a hurry to market it she excludes many important details and peoples in history. On top of the false information and myths, the layout is bad making it difficult to read.
Did anyone that reviewed this book read it? The five star ratings tell me Susan has a lot of helpful friends. The one star ratings (please read them all) give me hope that some homeschoolers know their history.
Rating:
Summary: Snuggle up together and learn ancient history
Review: This book is by far the best read aloud history book I've come across. It takes you on a journey from Ancient Mesopotamia, through Egyptian dynasties,mighty Assyria and Babylonia, to the rise of the Greek culture and ends up with the glory of Ancient Rome. It even includes the history of civilizations such as Africa and Asia. Best of all, it is written in simple language with lots of ancient fairy tales and fictional accounts of what life might be like for a 6 - 8 year old child from that period. My son's favorite part of the school day is when we curl up on our sofa and read Volume 2 of The History of the World. When we were still on Volume 1, he would beg me not to stop reading. Another thing I really like about this book is the fact that you can read a chapter, go to the library and explore more in depth on that time period. I have always thought history should be taught as a STORY, not mere facts and dates, and this book does just that. You can even read this book to your kids as a bedtime story, one chapter a night!If you decide to get the activity book(which you should if you are a home schooler)then you will have all the questions to ask your child after reading, maps to color, and suggested activities to reinforce the reading material. My only complaint is that the coloring pages (simple black line drawing for the kids to color) are not as high quality as they should be. My son didn't care for them at all and I didn't blame him. The illustrations in the reading book weren't that great either. There is no theorizing about what came before humans and it is religously neutral, but still delves into the religous practices of ancient man with a matter of fact attitude;no judging or scoffing - just the facts. This was really important to me, since I have strong Christian beliefs but want my kids to be aware of other religions and their importnace to our history. If you have kids who think history is a bore, or even if they already love history, this is a book I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for 1st-4th graders!
Review: This book is fabulous. It is written so that children stay interested in what you are reading, or so that they can read it themselves. We are enjoying the maps that go along with each chapter from the workbook along with the suggested other reading to enhance what we are learning. I love how it is written out starting at the beginning of time and working chronologically rather than jumping here and there. There are the basic facts to get your children interested in the time and many ideas on projects to enhance this learning.
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