The Buried City of Pompeii by Shelley Tanaka

Tanaka, Shelley. (1997). The Buried City of Pompeii: What it was Like When Vesuvius Exploded.Toronto: Hyperion/Madison Press Books

Grade Level:
I would recommend this book for students 3rd – 8th grade.

Author Credibility:
The author thanks many experts for there help with the book in the Acknowledgements section of the book. The author also states that, “every effort has been made to attribute correctly all material…”

Summary:
The book begins by introducing the reader to Mount Vesuvius. It transgresses from beautiful to deadly so quickly. From there the author takes you to modern day area around Mount Vesuvius. Tanaka tells what is left in Pompeii today, including the House of Menander. This house is a huge house that covers an entire city block. The author draws you in by asking questions about what happened to the family in this great house. Tanaka then focuses the story on the life of Eros the steward of the House of Menander. He goes throughout his day as normal trying to prepare the house for the return of the master. They are having to do a lot of repairs from an earthquake several years before. The author follows Eros as he makes his daily trip into the city. The city, Forum, ancient life in the city, and the baths are described in detail as Eros travels through the city.
Eros is leaning over a basin of water when it starts to tremble. Most people thought it was another earthquake. As they ran outside they realized though that this was not an earthquake, but the erruption of Vesuvius. Pumice began to fall on the city. Eros frantically races toward the house to find his daughter. He finds her and they return to their quarters. Eros decides they can’t leave the house. He grabs his seal and life savings in a leather purse and they wait for it all to end.
In the Epilogue the author gives the reader information about the erruption of Vesuvious. She also describes how the city was preserved by the ash and pumice from the volcano. She describes the excavations of the city of Pompeii. Tanaka tells in detail what was found from the excavations especially in the House of Menander. This included the skeletons of Eros and his daughter. Tanaka also explains to the reader that one reason this city is so important is the information it has given us about the life of the Romans. The last sentence of the book, “Never has the volcano remained quiet for so long,” leaves the reader with a sense that this tragedy could possibly happen again.

Standards:
Science: Earth and Space
Social Studies: People, Places, and Environments

Illustrations:
Illustrations were done by Greg Ruhl. The paintings and artwork were done using gouache and acrylic. Watercolors were used to create the maps and diagrams found throughout the book. The artwork found throughout the book accompanied the text. Photographs are also found throughout the book. Photographs are by Peter Christopher. The Photo Credits section of the book documents were the photographs came from. Captions accompanied the photographs, and explained what was seen in the photograph.

Access Features:
*Maps
*Photographs with captions
*Sidebars
*Diagrams
*Glossary
*Recommended Further Readings
*Picture Credits/ Acknowledgements

How I would use the book in the classroom:
This would be a great book to learn when learning about the Roman Empire. It gave a broad overview of life in a Roman city. So many important aspects of the Roman empire were discussed in this book. One thing I would like to do in my classroom is divide the students into groups and have them each research a topic in the book such as: gladiators, Forum, baths, theater, etc.

My response to the book:
I really enjoyed reading this book. I am interested in Pompeii and I enjoyed learning more about the city and what happened there. I really liked how the story was presented. Tanaka caught your attention from the first pages and held it by telling the journey of one family. I liked how the story told of one families experience when Vesuvius errupted. Tanaka brought in Roman life and made it come to life for the reader. Side bars gave the reader more information about what was being discussed.

Related Texts:
* The Secrets of Vesuvius by Sara C. Bisel
*Pompeii by Peter Connolly
*How Would You Survive As an Ancient Roman by Anita Ganeri
*Ancient Rome by Simon James
*Volcano and Earthquake by Susanna van Rose
*Volcano by Patricia Lauber
*Pompeii Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne
*Pompeii…Buried Alive! by Edith Kunhardt Davis
*Escape From Pompeii by Christina Balit
*Bodies From the Ash by James M. Deem

Other:
This book is a paperback book. The book contains 48 pages including the glossary, acknowledgments, picture credits, and further readings. This book was an easy read. It was written in a conversational tone. The book opens with a cast of one of the victims of Vesuvius. For me this provided a sense of reality about what I was about to read. It was such a tragedy. The boarders at the top of each page are grape vines. This made me think of the importance of grapes to Rome. They were used to make wines. This is even discussed in the book.