Totally Chaotic History: The Stone Age Runs Wild!
Greg Jenner, illustrated by Rikin Parekh
Walker Books

In this third book of the series, author Greg Jenner is aided and abetted by Dr Brenna Hassett, archaeologist and biological anthropologist whose voice is a great complement for Jenner’s chatty style.

Almost immediately many readers will find that what they thought they knew about the Stone Age is actually wrong. For starters scientists don’t use the term ‘Stone Age’, rather they divide it into eras and so we read, ‘there were loads of different species of hominids appearing, dying out, exploring new lands, inventing new technologies and experimenting with new ways to live.’

You’ll discover amazing buildings such as Gôbekli Tepe – the world’s first stone temple, and visit the Catalhôyûk,

neither of which I’d heard of before.

My head was spinning long before I finished this, which is no surprise because as the author tells us near the end, things were constantly changing during the time they were writing the book and they had to rewrite things on five occasions as new discoveries were made.

Bursting with facts, the whole thing is hugely amusing from cover to cover, made all the more so by Rikin Parekh whose illustrations are splendid. If this fails to engage children, then I’ll spend a night on that luxurious-looking stone bed. Ouch!