The Silk Roads: The extraordinary history that created your world

This is a flexicover illustrated edition of Frankopan’s bestseller for adults. It is rare to get a history book for kids with an international perspective, so a book for younger readers that provides a succinct summary of the broad sweeps of history is very welcome. Inevitably with such condensed material, there are points to quibble about and more thought could have been given to exactly what level of readers it is for. Nevertheless, this is the sort of book that can ignite a passion for history, a feel for the bigger picture. The focus is on the intersection of the routes between east and west, north and south, places such as Baghdad and Constantinople. There are pages of dense text so the audiobook is a good option, but the print version has the advantage of maps.

Ages 11-13

Best Kids' Books of 2021