The City of Rainbows: A Tale from Ancient Sumer

The author gives her creative rendition of a 4,000 year old Sumerian folk tale carved in stone and recently unearthed by archeologists. It is very creatively illustrated. The author tries to recreate the ancient mosaic style with her own unique paper cuts. She also numbers the pages with cuneiform versions of the Hindu numerals superimposed on the original stone tablet. The author is also an archeology and ancient art teacher. So, everything is explained in the back of this book. Parts of the story are superimposed on faded black and white photos of archeological sites. Uruk is also the city of Gilgamesh and the goddess, Inanna. I would have found it helpful if some maps of ancient Sumer had been included. Also it's worth pointing out that in 4,000 years the geography and topography have changed, e.g. rivers shift, and or dry up, and coastlines can recede or flood.

It's a good history book.

As a teacher, I use this book with middle school students learning about ancient Mesopotamia. I use it to teach not only history but also various reading skills as I read it out loud. It's short enough to read in one or two class sessions if using it just as a read-aloud but can also be extended over several more periods if doing additional reading/writing tasks. The story itself is engaging and the illustrations are excellent. I highly recommend this book for classroom use!