I was so excited when I saw a third volume of this pop up because kiddo (now 11) and I have loved this series so much! Yuval Noah Harari does a fantastic job breaking down the very complicated history of humanity into easily understandable concepts and ideas. And he makes it fun for kids to read.
This volume tackles the development of conquering empires, immigration, and the spread of religion (specifically Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) which are necessarily very complicated subjects. He again breaks it down and simplifies it without losing substance or letting things get too tangled.

I thought it was an interesting choice to refer to the Jewish and Christian god as the Sky Father, in order to reduce confusion from all the different names early believers gave him. It does give the history a little room to breathe, especially for kids who might be familiar with some stories about him but not others

It was a brilliant choice to have the religious discussion take place between kids who are traveling with their parents/teachers to have their own religious discussion. It makes it much more relatable than if we were listening to adults talk about it.

The illustrations are also very nice and make the story feel more relatable.

Kiddo and I read through this in just a few days and really enjoyed it. We will definitely be checking out any further volumes in this series and I think I will also introduce my kiddo, who is now reading more adult-level science and nonfiction, to Sapiens to get a deeper understanding of the concepts.

Highly, highly recommend this series to kids 8-12 who are interested in learning about the history of humanity and development of civilization. And their parents, because I also learned a ton while reading it.

*Thanks to Bright Matter Books for providing an early copy for review.

I love how this series teaches by combining various aspects of society based on a theme. This book follows the theme of enemies becoming friends, and we travel around the world looking at different groups of people and how interacting changed them all. The illustrations are wonderful and detailed, providing context for what we're learning.
This is a great source to teach history, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology -- basic information in all these areas combines for rich descriptions of civilizations and empires.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this advanced readers copy