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Using the second person, the text puts the reader in place of a poor Chinese farmer in 215 B.C. Illustrations feature realistic settings peopled with cartoonish figures, but there is plenty of accurate history. Table of Contents, Glossary, Index. ( )

Summary: This book gives you a lesson on what it would have been like if you had lived in China around 215 B.C. under the rule of the first great emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi. Qin had enslaved thousands of people to build his 1,800 mile long defensive wall, the Great Wall of China. The book covers some of the accomplishments of the emperor, such as building the new capital, Xizangyang. It goes over how much of a tyrant he was and how he controlled his empire. It explains how hard life was for Chinese farmers back then, and why it was hard, the laws they had to obey, how all books were to be burnt, and the history of the raiders. It also explains what it was like to live by the wall all of your life.

Personal Reaction: I think the illustrations really help keep the readers attention. The history lesson is a good one. Like a lot of history, there is a lot of violence involved. The author handles that well over all. There is one illustration that does not bother me but might another parent, that shows a man being beheaded and his lower body being sliced off by two soldiers. There is not any blood in the picture. I do think the nature of that picture and of all the violence that is associated with the history of the Great Wall, that this book should be geared for a bit older child even though the illustrations makes it seem its for younger.

Classroom Extension: I would pair up this book with lessons about China. Geography, culture, and so forth. ( )

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