How To Drive A Roman Chariot is the tenth Albie adventure and it gives a fun introduction to life in Ancient Rome. We are huge fans of Albie, particular favourites of ours are Supermarket Zoo and Plunge into the Pirate Pool, and we love the way that this story takes Albie back in time as well as celebrating girl power!
The Story: Albie and Mum go and visit some horses but when it starts to rain they find shelter in a barn. Albie meets Julia, a roman girl, and together they get caught up in a chariot race involving a runaway horse. But, as a girl, Julia is not allowed to ride a chariot. How will The Emperor react when he sees her?
How To Drive A Roman Chariot takes us back in time and introduces Ancient Rome in an action packed, child friendly way. Albie is the storyteller so the language is simple and easy to read and we love Julia who is determined that being a girl won’t get in the way of her achieving her dream to drive a chariot. The two characters don’t have a lot of time to get to know each other before they are thrown into a drama caused by a cute cat, they’re soon forced to work together as a team to ensure that people in the city don’t get hurt.
Children are introduced to vocabulary such as Hippodrome, gladiator and chariot. At the beginning of the story five Roman inventions, including an aqueduct and a Roman numeral, are shown and children are encouraged to find them as they read the story. The play on words with Julia’s name is brilliant – we won’t spoil it by revealing it here!
The book has a beautiful gold embossed cover and Ed Eaves’ illustrations are bright, humorous and full of action. There’s lots to talk about including Roman costumes, Roman footwear and a Roman Emperor and we love the illustration of the town which shows a maze of straight roads.
This would be a great story to include in a classroom topic on Ancient Rome as it can stimulate discussion about elements of Roman life. Caryl also has a free Albie Activity Pack available.
Age Range: 3 +
Author: Caryl Hart / Illustrator: Ed Eaves
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending a copy of How To Drive A Roman Chariot. We can’t believe that it’s Albie’s 10th adventure! To read more about the other Albie books you can visit Caryl’s website.
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