Rome Antics

A birds-eye tour of Rome's architecture via drawings by the fabulous Macaulay. Specifically, it’s a homing pigeon’s eye, and it’s a bird on a mission, developing into a narrative with a sweet surprise ending.

A homing pigeon released from the suburbs of Rome decides to follow a scenic route to her destination. On the way, she leads the reader on a tour of a city where the ancient coexists with the modern. Detailed black-and-white pen and ink drawings highlighted by a red line showing the path of the pigeon illustrate this attractive volume. The illustrations take up most of the page and are often drawn from unusual perspectives in this pigeon's-eye-view of the city. Historical landmarks are identified on the lower margin of the left hand leaf, while a sentence of narration occupies the corresponding position on the right hand leaf. A guide to the buildings identified in the text is provided at the end of the book. The plot is thin, being show more nothing more than an excuse for the pigeon's flight through Rome, but the excellence of the illustrations and the love shown for the city of Rome, both ancient and contemporary, more than make up for this lack. Recommended for third through fifth grades. show less

Lovely, precise drawings, as always with David Macaulay books. My children loved tracing the red pencil path of the homing pigeon, and asked for more details about the sights the pigeon passed. I was grateful that there were brief descriptions of the locations at the end of the book.

"Rome Antics" by David Macaulay follows a pigeon from the country side into Rome. The pigeon takes a scenic route and finds herself in a lot of trouble and danger. Eventually the pigeon reaches the recepient and delivers the message. The story is a beautiful portrayl of Rome and it's wonders.

This is a gorgeous book (so what if I overuse that word!) it literally gives you a bird's eye view of Rome, a pigeon's eye view to be precise. If you go to www.ted.com you can see Macaulay's video of the initial idea for the book. You can tell he loves Rome. I've been lucky to visit three times, I'm hoping for a fourth trip.

In this beautifully black and white illustrated book, David Macaulay takes you through the the ancient city of Rome, Italy. With a messenger bird as your guide, your students will get to see the beauty that is within this city. This book is a little complicated for the reading level, but other than that it is a good book. Here is a great website to use along with this book: http://www.historyforkids.org/teachers/guides/romeguide.htm