Greek / Greece
Giati oi prōtogonoi den ēxeran tipota kai alles istories apo tēn proïstoria opōs tis eipa stēn korē mu
(Why prehistoric people knew nothing, and other stories from prehistory, as I told them to my daughter)
Potamianos, Nikos
(text)
Christulias, Petros
(Christoulias, Petros)
(illus.)
Athēna: Kedros, [2017]. – 85 p.
ISBN 978-960-04-4844-3
Prehistory | Early history | Humans | Non-fiction
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2018
Why did human beings leave the trees? It’s fun to live in trees, after all! And what about the animals in the cave paintings? Are they art? Were they created out of boredom? Or are they just grocery lists? Was the development of language important? Myrto has so many questions, and after a spat at school she wants to know why the word “Neanderthal” counts as an insult. Her father’s initial answer starts a thrilling dialogue between the two, which morphs the route from school to grandma’s house into a prehistoric timeline. Historian Nikos Potamianos’s first children’s book is an original and informative non-fiction book. The long path humans had to travel to get from the production of stone tools to agriculture to the invention of writing, are conveyed in a straightforward, witty, and entertaining way. Petros Christoulias’s caricature-like, funny illustrations fit the text’s casual style very well.