HOW PEOPLE LIVED Anne Millard Illustrated by Sergio Toronto, Macmillan, 1989. 64pp, cloth, $14.95 ISBN 0-7715-9642-1. (Windows on the World series). CIP Grades 4 to 6/Ages 9 to 11 Reviewed by Louise Reimer. Volume 17 Number 4 1989 July The past is brought to life for young readers in this engaging introduction to early civilizations. In these pages we meet a host of fictional characters, each serving as a representative of a particular early society. We meet the young slave Ashnan of the Sumerian city-states, Brother William of a medieval monastery, and so on, as we are guided through thousands of years from the Ice Age to the Renaissance. The customs, dwellings, clothing, food, livelihoods, and religious practices of the different civilizations are all described in word and picture. The author, who holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology and has written numerous children's books on early man, is to be commended for condensing a vast subject into a concise, lively and readable text and for taking care to give clear definitions of unfamiliar terminology. The text is complemented by bright, detailed colour illustrations, including numerous two-page panoramas and cut­away drawings that reveal the interiors of dwellings. An index and a short survey of archaeological methods complete the volume. School and public libraries will want to make this book available to young readers interested in "digging" into the past. Louise Reimer, Edmonton Public Library, Edmonton. Alta.