A Day in the Life of a Caveman, a Queen and Everything in Between is a hilarious, fast-paced history overview. It travels all over the world, highlighting different civilizations. It’s a packed read, so much is covered!
Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley, the authors, have teamed up for this book as they did for a previous book. A Day in the Life of a Caveman etc. starts from an evolutionary perspective but moves on swiftly through history. The book is divided up into three sections called Ancient History, the Middle Ages and The Modern Age. The book is a brilliantly illustrated comic, with each comic taking up one or two pages.
There are different kinds of comics in this book. There are the Day in the Life Of pages that give you a snapshot of that point in history. There are Bigger Picture pages, usually with a bigger picture, that will give more in-depth information about the subject, and there are the Secret Diary Pages that will give you some inside knowledge. There are also Newsflashes, giving you more of an overview of what went on around the world at the same time. This in itself provided a lovely experience, as it varied so much. It wasn’t just a comic book that went on and on, but it gave a wonderful experience instead.
A Day in the Life of a Caveman included lots of interesting countries and their cultures. Some of them I had never heard of, and each comic provided interesting background details. I had heard of the Terracotta Army, but it was interesting to read more about that, for example. The illustrations are amazing, and the captions hilarious. There are a lot of puns, which my kids enjoy a lot. Some of them will be beyond them for now, leaving me to laugh by myself. I think I liked the comic pages the best, although the Bigger Picture pages were very interesting as well.
I loved the variation of the book and it made me want to read more about some of the topics. It’s not a long read, only 123 pages, but it’s packed with information. There is also a glossary, which is useful. The book is a large picture book size, but has a lovely weight to it, just the kind of book to enjoy alone or with children.
I received a review copy via Love Books Tours but was under no obligation or pressure to write a favourable review.