Word to Caesar Paperback – May 12, 2005

.Geoffrey Trease was a prolific writer and he wrote at least one hundred books during his life. I am sure there are many readers whose interest in history was originally fired by reading Trease - books such as White Nights of St Petersburg (1967), Edward I's England and his other Roman based novels. My introduction to his work was Ward to Caesar. Geoffrey Trease was last of certain generation of children's when he passed away in 1998.This is a narrative of a boy called Paul, who lives in a Roman camp in Northern England, which his father commands. For Paul his father is his whole family. One day the camp is attacked by barbarians and over run. His father is killed during the melee. Paul is wounded and very afraid, his only escape to get on the last Roman vessel to leave, from the nearby coast. Through the efforts of one Lucius Fabius Severus, the departing boat waits so that the boy can be saved. Paul is now an orphan, but Lucius takes him under his wing and looks after him. He soon learns that his “mentor” has been exiled to Britannia; and that this very exile will eventually kill him, because his health cannot thrive in the cooler climate, he must be allowed to return to the Mediterranean area and Italy, to regain his health. Paul decides out of appreciation to Lucius, for saving his life that he will go to Roman and appeal to the Emperor, directly, to repel the exile. Along with a female friend, he travels across the Empire to get to its heart - Rome and try to gain an audience with the Emperor. However, they are pursued and harried by a set of villains who have their own agenda.While the characters in the book are fictitious, except Emperor Hadrian, the locations that are mentioned can be visited today; the colours, textures and flavours of Imperial Rome and the greater Empire are really brought to the fore within the pages of this book. For me Word to Caesar, is a fast-paced, thrill-a-minute page-turner, where Paul, a young boy, suffers trials and misfortunes, yet remains a true protagonist performing principled actions.This book, I guess, was intended as a way to get young boys to engage with history and historical topics. For me, this book has a great narrative. It is well versed in its historical setting, and goes beyond gender or age. I really hope that the other titles in the series are republished.To sum up and great read that is well worth a five star recommendation..

Overall, good book. The start is a little bit unneeded but after that, it's great! Sometimes the author doesn't focus enough on important facts, and sometimes he focuses a little bit too much.(Barbara). I would only say that if you are going to read this book, push through the beginning to get to the marvelous ending.

Geoffrey Trease was a prolific writer and over his lifetime he wrote at least one hundred books. With his children's books - I am sure there are many readers whose interest in history was originally fired by reading Trease books, such as White Nights of St Petersburg (1967), Edward I's England and his other Roman-based novels. My introduction to his work was Word to Caesar. Geoffrey Trease was last of a certain generation of authors of children's books when he passed away in 1998.The narrative deals with a boy called Paul who lives in a Roman camp in Northern England, which his father commands; for Paul his father is his whole family. One day the camp is attacked by barbarians and overrun. His father is killed. Paul is wounded and very afraid, his only escape is to get on the last Roman vessel to leave the nearby coast. Through the efforts of one Lucius Fabius Severus, the departing boat waits so that the boy can be saved. Paul is now an orphan, but Lucius takes him under his wing and looks after him. He soon learns that his `mentor' has been exiled to Britannia, and this exile will eventually kill him because his health cannot thrive in the cooler climate of Britain if he is to survive he must be allowed to return to the Mediterranean Italy to regain his health. Paul decides out of appreciation to Lucius, for saving his life that he will go to Roman and appeal to the Emperor to repel the exile decree. Along with a female friend he travels across the Empire to get to its heart - Rome - and try and gain an audience with the Emperor. However, they are pursued by a set of villains who have their own agenda.While the characters in the book are fictitious, except of course Emperor Hadrian, the locations that are mentioned can be visited today; the colours, textures and flavours of Imperial Rome and the greater Empire are really brought to the fore with this book. For me, Word to Caesar is a fast-paced, thrill-a-minute page-turner, where Paul, as a young boy, suffers trials and misfortunes, yet remains a true protagonist performing principled actions.This book, I guess, was intended as a way to get young boys to engage with history and historical topics, for me, this book is a great story that is well told and goes beyond gender or age. I really hope that the other titles by the author are republished as well.​Overall this title is worthy of a full five-star rating and highly recommended.

i first read this as a school boy and rereading it was a very lovely trip back in time.

Not your fault, but the cover design is not enticing for young readers

My 7 year old is studying Rome right now, so I hoped this would be a good book to read to him. It was perfect. A riveting story, but absolutely clean. No romance or other inappropriate stuff. Morally simple: everyone is either good or bad, without being monodimensional. It was written for teenagers in a simpler age. Nowadays teenagers would roll their eyes at this, but for our purposes it was perfect.