Salah ad Din and the Crusades

Brief and well written.

Ive been looking for a book on Salahuddin Ayyubi that would be child-friendly, so I bought this one. I read it before my kids and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Firstly, it is written in an engaging, easy-to-read way. Secondly, it shares a lot of interesting information that I was clueless about, eg the atmosphere leading up to the first crusade, and who was responsible for whipping up a huge storm of hatred (hmm, much like these days, with people like Trump and his British counterparts and their hate speeches; some things never change).Some things I felt couldve been improved upon:[1] there are far too many dates, names and other factual information which can be overwhelming for children. They want to read a story, and it shouldnt read like a text book. Dates etc. can be given at the end of the book.[2] the illustrations are disappointing. On nearly every page you show an old man that has nothing to do with the story. It would have been better to illustrate all the key characters in every chapter, to help children visualize the story.[3] There should have been more personal info about Salahuddin. Telling us about his wife and kids, his likes and dislikes, quirks in his character would have helped to bring him to life for the reader. These are the ingredients that engage the reader with the character. Giving him and other characters more dialogue so that it read like a novel would have made it far more exciting for kids. While there is plenty of info about his career, his spirituality, his rise to success, his battles, etc. there isnt much info about him as a person, a father, a husband, a friend, a son, a neighbour.Because of the above points, my kids havent been willing to read the book themselves, but are happy to have me read it to them, as I can skip to the interesting bits and keep them engaged. But overall this is a very good book and an important part of one's personal collection.I honestly think this subject should be taught in schools all over Britain; after all it IS British history. Kids nowadays have a right to know what a bloodbath was unleashed by the British on the basis of white and Christian superiority, and how even their Christianity didnt stop them from slaughtering other Christians, never mind Muslims and Jews. How else will our kids learn the lessons of history and how to avoid making the same heinous mistakes? We can see history at the cusp of repeating itself, with Brexit and Trump being the starting point of something extremely ugly right around the corner. If we ignore certain episodes of history because they make us look bad, we'll never learn, and will be doomed to make the same mistakes again and again.

It was excellent reading this book with my 7yr old.

INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE