Volume 1: Ancient Times addresses the time period from the earliest nomads (given a date of about 6000 B.C.) up through the last emperor of ancient Rome—no cave men or Neanderthals included! While the target audience is grades one through four, this book’s 338 pages provide a lot of material in comparison to most world history texts for these grades. Nevertheless, coverage is not comprehensive because chapters are devoted to lengthy stories about key characters or events rather than tidbits about everything. On the other hand, the book does span civilizations around the world, including India, China, and West Africa in addition to the usual cast of western civilizations.