You Wouldn't Want to Be an Assyrian Soldier!: An Ancient Army You'd Rather Not Join Library Binding – January 1, 2007

This series is so cute.

I like the every day info in this series but was a bit disappointed in this one. As I read it to my son, 7, I realized that the perspective was heavy on shirking and avoiding danger. I can appreciate that most people pressed in to military service just want to stay alive and get back home but bravery, hard work, loyalty, service and commitment are important values that this book sorely misses. I would never want my son to have the attitude this book seems full of - even if he were drafted. It also completely skips the brutality of the Assyrians implying that their policy was to let the defeated get on with their lives so they could pay taxes - umm not quite true there was a lot of slaying the defeated and hauling people off into slavery.

I was reading this to my daughters for supplemental reading for their Classical Conversations (Cycle 1). This whole series looks quite interesting. It provides a snapshot of life in the various places/times and has a POV aspect to the story. There isn't a complete narrative as there are mostly facts listed but it helps to put those facts into a semi-story for the kids to grab onto more.With this entry, the story starts out with the character before life in the military to contrast it with what life in the military looks like. From there, the discussion of military training, jobs within the military, weapons, and attack tactics are discussed. It's nice to get into some of the details of military service other than just the standard infantry soldier, although that is also covered. The character moves up the ranks but again, there's no real story of it happening just using the character as the foil for the information.Plundering, looting, and warfare are discussed but there is not violence or bloodshed. On one hand, it's not needed to discuss the amount of violence but the purpose of the book is why you wouldn't want to be an Assyrian soldier and by the time of retirement it seems the only thing that makes it something you wouldn't want to be is because of the hard work and tiring conditions. On the other hand, not discussing the lifespan of a trooper or what happens if you were wounded could have been discussed without depictions of graphic violence.Overall, providing a snapshot of the military life and way of life during the Assyrian Empire was important for the girls to learn about and provided for further discussion on Assyrian paganism and the times during which they reigned.Final Grade - B

Excellent book .