Recommendations from our site
“A good novel for kids about the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, part of the Roman Mysteries series.” Read more...
“The Secrets of Vesuvius is the second book in the Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence. Lawrence bills herself as a writer of historical mysteries for children, but she studied Classics at Berkeley and won a Marshall Scholarship to Cambridge and the Roman world she recreates is based on historical evidence. This one, about the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, is our favourite in the series, and includes an account of Pliny the Elder, who famously died on a beach after the eruption of Vesuvius.” Read more...
Izzy, Children
The Roman Mysteries series is different from the other books on this list. It offers an entry not into a magical world, but an ancient one. Like Harry Potter, it’s a group of friends working together, led by a 12-year-old girl called Flavia Gemina. It’s another series that I read out loud to the kids: we read all 17 of them together.
The first book in the series, The Thieves of Ostia, introduces the characters and the town they live, Ostia, whose ruins you can still visit near Rome’s main airport, Fiumicino. The second book, The Secrets of Vesuvius, about the eruption of Vesuvius, is our favourite. Caroline Lawrence, the author, studied Classics at Berkeley and won a Marshall Scholarship to Cambridge, and she seems to use genuine sources (eg Pliny) to recreate the Roman world she describes. Not only is the series enjoyable and moreish, but you really will learn a lot about life in ancient Rome.
From our article Books like Harry Potter
