One Shelf at a Time - Shelf 8

Lots more narrative history for children here. Most of my H.E.Marshall collection: Our Island Story, Our Empire Story, Scotland's Story, History of France, History of Germany and English Literature for Boys and Girls. Then there are Mary McGregor's histories of Rome and France, Van Loon's Lives and Story of Mankind, a collection of biographical sketches called These Were Europeans, and several volumes by R.J.Unstead, who wrote a number of popular books on British history in the mid-20th century. Three favourites from this shelf ...

People in History by R.J.Unstead. Along with Looking at History this was a popular text book in junior schools (ages 7 to 11) in the 1960s and 70s. It was even included in the PNEU curriculum. It is a collection of four short volumes of biographies of famous Britons, all of them lively and readable.

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H.E.Marshall, is a history of English literature and the men who wrote it, from the earliest days and ending with Tennyson. (Yes, men ... no Jane Austen or Elizabeth Gaskell!). I'm not aware of any other comparable book that covers this huge subject in such detail for children, and H.E.Marshall is always readable.

The Story of France by Eleanor Doorly. This one was a lucky find a few years ago. Another very readable and well written book, and much shorter than the narrative histories by H.E.Marshall and Mary McGregor. It isn't short on content though. The author manages to link together both the history and geography of France, giving a sense of how the two overlap.