One of the best feelings as a homeschool mom is discovering a resource you didn’t previously know about. That feeling is one I got to experience when I read Everything You Need to Ace World History in One Big Fat Notebook (The Complete Middle School Study Guide) from Workman Press. This book is a 502-page softcover book that provides an excellent overview of world history from pre-humans to the Internet age. The book is written from the point-of-view of the “smartest kid in the class,” and represents his/her notes as taken in world history. The concept of the product is pretty neat, and the book itself is a goldmine of information, whether the student working through it is a world history novice or has taken world history before. The book retails for $14.95.

The book is very thorough in following through with the notetaking theme. Vocabulary words are highlighted in yellow and definitions are highlighted in green. Blue pen is used for important people, places, dates, and terms. Doodles are also sprinkled throughout the book, because what self-respecting notetaker doesn’t include a few doodles? Hand-drawn timelines and maps are also included in the book. The overall effect of the presentation is one that is completely non-threatening and not overwhelming, which is important if your child is not a fan of history (or not a fan of notetaking, for that matter. A bonus of this book is that it really can aid your child in learning how to take good notes!).

There are nine units total in the book: The First Humans, First Civilizations, The Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, The Age of Exploration, Revolution and Enlightenment, The Era of Imperialism, World Conflicts in the Early Twentieth Century, and Post World War II: The World from 1945 to Today. Each unit has between two and ten sub-units, breaking the units down into manageable segments for a total of 44 chapters. The sub-units are predictable and make complete sense. For example, under First Civilizations, the sub-units are Mesopotamia, Ancient Africa, The Phoenicians and the Israelites, Ancient India, Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. The length of the sub-units varies, but a good average is about ten pages. Following each segment is a “Check Your Knowledge” section, which asks students questions about what they read. The answers are on a separate page. Always the notetaking concept is maintained.

While I would be hesitant to recommend this resource as a substitute for an actual world history class (since topics are just covered in a review format), the book is excellent as a supplement to any class covering the above topics. It is also a great book to get if you have a child who loves history, especially if you’re trying to home in on which historical era is a favorite so that you can design further studies. As the holder of a BA in history, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book myself! It felt like I was reviewing my college Western Civilization I and II courses, the very courses that made me fall in love with history.

One final word about the bias of the book: there really isn’t any. Any time a history book discusses the Reformation, there is always the chance that it will, whether intentionally or not, reveal a bias. Although this book makes a couple of statements about the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation with which I could take issue, they are no different than statements routinely made by historians about this period in history. The book does a good job of coming at history from a neutral standpoint.

My children and I both really enjoyed the style and substance of this book, and it should appeal to many different types of students, homeschooled and otherwise. I plan to check out more titles in this series.

-Product review by Laura Delgado, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July, 2018