📖 City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction by David Macaulay. Written and illustrated in Macaulay’s trademark style, City describes the planning and building of a fictional Roman city around 20 BC. Older students will learn plenty about Ancient Roman life from the text, while everyone will enjoy poring over the detailed black-and-white illustrations. – All

📖 Rome and Romans (Time Traveler Series) by Heather Amery and Patricia Vanags. This entry in the Usborne Time Traveler series takes us back to Ancient Rome, where students learn about many aspects of daily Roman life, including the baths, gladiators, chariots, army life, feasts, and Roman construction. The large, appealing cartoon drawings make this a good choice for young elementary students. – Elementary

📖 The Romans: Gods, Emperors, and Dormice by Marcia Williams. This amusing comic strip-style book introduces the Roman gods, the seven mythical kings of Ancient Rome (including Rome's founder, Romulus), the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar, Imperial Rome, and the decline and fall of the empire. This is well worth using as a supplemental resource, as Williams conveys lots of information in a memorable and entertaining way. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini by Richard Platt. Learn about daily life in Imperial Rome through the fictional diary of Iliona, a Greek girl who is captured and sold as a slave to a Roman household. Through Iliona's eyes, we learn about many aspects of Roman life. Extensive "Notes for the Reader" provide historical context for the story.​ – Elementary • Middle

📖 Ruthless Romans and Cut-Throat Celts by Terry Deary. This pair of Horrible Histories books offers a playful yet surprisingly informative introduction to life in Ancient Rome (Ruthless Romans) and Roman Britain (Cut-Throat Celts). – Elementary • Middle

▶️ Horrible Histories TV show. Episodes of the popular “Horrible Histories” sketch show are available to stream on Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube. Search the Horrible Histories Sketch List to find every “Rotten Romans” and “Cut-Throat Celts” sketch from Seasons 1–5. – Elementary • Middle 

📖 The Ancient Roman World by Ronald Mellor and Marni McGee. This entry in the World in Ancient Times series would make a good spine for a middle grade study of Ancient Rome. The 29 chapters form a cohesive, chronological narrative of Roman history, from its mythical founding to its collapse. Features full-color photographs and many clearly-marked primary source references. – Middle

📖 Famous Men of Rome by John H. Haaren. First published in 1901, this classic work tells the story of Rome through chronological biographies of twenty-nine important figures in Roman history, from the mythical Romulus to Constantine the Great. The interest level of this book is fairly broad; it could be used as a read-aloud for upper elementary kids or as part of a high school level study. The linked image will take you to Amazon, where you can purchase a print copy; however, the book is also now in the public domain and can be read freely online: archive.org. – Middle • High

📖 How to Be a Roman Soldier by Fiona McDonald. “How would you like to join the Roman army?” This book explains what it was like to be a Roman soldier at the height of the Roman Empire. The two-page spreads explain “What You’ll Need,” “Join the Army, See the World,” and “Dangers of the Job.” – Elementary • Middle

📖 You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Roman Soldier! Barbarians You’d Rather Not Meet by David Stewart and David Antram. This title in the popular You Wouldn’t Want to… series demystifies any potential appeal of serving as a soldier in the fearful Roman army. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Julius Caesar: Dictator for Life (A Wicked History) by Denise Rinaldo. This is a fast-paced, engagingly written biography of Julius Caesar - covering his birth, his rise to power, and finally his dramatic murder on the senate floor. An end section, titled "Wicked?" weighs the good and the bad of Caesar's life. Includes pictures, map, and timeline. Good for upper elementary or middle school students. – Middle

🔗 Content Connection: Ancient Egypt. Learn about Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, whose story was intertwined with Caesar’s.

📖 Gladiator by Richard Watkins. This fascinating and horrifying 80-page book is the resource for the older child with a deep interest in the gladiators of Ancient Rome. Features black-and-white charcoal illustrations. – ​Middle

📖 You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Roman Gladiator! Gory Things You’d Rather Not Know by John Malam and David Antram. If you think it would be fun to be a Roman Gladiator, then this entertaining book will certainly disabuse you of that notion. – Elementary • Middle

📖 The Roman Colosseum by Elizabeth Mann. Despite the title, this entry in Mann’s excellent Wonders of the World series isn’t only about the Roman Colosseum. The book also gives a brief overview of Roman history, from the early Republic to the fall of the Empire. There are lovely pictures, but it’s text-heavy; great for slightly older students.​ – Middle

📺 NOVA: Colosseum – Roman Death Trap by PBS. ​This 53-minute episode has excellent graphics and interesting historical detail, but the narrative is focused on efforts by modern engineers to recreate an ancient Roman contraption that released wild animals into the arena. Mechanically-minded kids will be enthralled. Purchase video at PBS or on Amazon. – All

📖 Pompeii: Buried Alive by Edith Kunhardt Davis. If you’re looking for an independent book for your emerging reader, turn to this Step into Reading title for a decent account of the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. – Elementary

📖 Pompeii: Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne. This simple book offers a concise introduction to the lost city of Pompeii. Bonnie Christensen’s fresco illustrations nicely set the mood.​ – Elementary

📖 You Wouldn’t Want to Live in Pompeii! A Volcanic Eruption You’d Rather Avoid by John Malam and David Antram. You definitely would not want to be a slave living in Pompeii in 79 AD, as this book clearly demonstrates. The text is enhanced by informational asides, a timeline, a map, and a glossary. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Bodies from the Ashes: Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii by James Deem. This thorough, 40-plus page book gives a gripping account of life in Pompeii, its destruction in AD 79, and its rediscovery centuries later. Bodies from the Ashes is a very good read, although younger children might be disturbed by the gruesome descriptions and the photos of plaster mummies of the victims.​ – Middle

🔗 Content Connection: Geology. Study the science of volcanoes.

📖 Romulus and Remus by Anne Rockwell. Here is a simple retelling of the Romulus and Remus myth of the founding of Rome, written in an Easy Reader format.​ – Elementary

🔗 Content Connection: Ancient Greece. The Greeks essentially worshipped the same pantheon as the Romans.

📖 Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld. This is a light-hearted piece of fiction to accompany a study of Ancient Rome.: “In these two delightful history-mysteries, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes . . . thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure.” Continue the adventure with the sequel, Mystery of the Roman Ransom. –Elementary • Middle

📖 The Eagle by Rosemary Sutcliff. This is historical fiction at its best—an exciting story tightly interwoven into the setting of Roman Britain: "The Ninth Legion marched into the mists of Northern Britain―and they were never seen again. Thousands of men disappeared and their eagle standard was lost. It's a mystery that's never been solved, until now . . . Marcus has to find out what happened to his father, who led the legion. So he sets out into the unknown, on a quest so dangerous that nobody expects him to return." Also see the other titles in Sutcliff's Roman Britain Trilogy: The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers. Readers will want to be familiar with the organization of the Roman army before tackling this series. – Middle • High

📖 Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff. Here’s another good literature link from Rosemary Sutcliff: “When a Roman ship is wrecked off the coast of Britain, an infant, Beric, is the only survivor, saved by members of a British tribe. They name him Beric and bring him up among them, until the time comes when they can ignore his ancestry no longer. Then Beric is cast out from the only home he has ever known and forced to find his place in a treacherous world.” –Middle • High