13 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 316 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 316 pagesAbout this book
What if world history feels less like a heap of dates and more like a story told by a friend?
In A Child's History of the World, V. M. Hillyer follows people from chipped flint to the aftermath of the First World War. Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages become stages in a connected story of people who eat, fight, build and wonder.
Hillyer writes as a teacher speaking straight to a child. He jokes, asks questions and calls out a king who acts like a bully. Short chapters keep the journey manageable, whether you share them with children or want to put the past in order for yourself. This is a friendly outline, not a detailed scholarly account.
What you’ll discover
- Life before written history Picture early people living in caves as they learn about fire, tools and farming.
- Rivers that feed cities See how the Nile's yearly floods leave rich soil for Egyptian farmers.
- Rivals in ancient Greece Meet Athens and Sparta through stories of their sharply different ways of life.
- Rome's growing reach Follow a small Italian town toward a republic, roads, laws and an empire.
- A world of change Trace the story through printing, exploration, revolutions and machines to a world at war.
Who will love it
Readers who love lively stories about real people will enjoy this book, as will those who like a guide who jokes and asks questions, or a clear journey from cave people to inventors.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- History begins before familiar dates
- Rivers and writing support civilization
- Small peoples leave lasting ideas
- Victory cannot protect Greece from rivalry
- Rome tests duty against power
- Ideas survive the fall of empires
- New tools open new possibilities
- Progress raises questions about human happiness
- History connects scenes into a pattern
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A Child's History of the World in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
A Child's History of the World
by V. M. Hillyer · 1924
Hannibal crosses the Alps, Columbus stands an egg on end, and a Spartan answers a king with one word.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Why would a nine-year-old need to know about Stone Age grunts, Spartan schoolboys and a runner who collapses on reaching Athens? V. M. Hillyer spent years teaching children, and he wrote A Child's History of the World to answer that question.
A Child's History of the World at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 15 min4 h 55 min fast, 7 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 89,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1924by V. M. Hillyer
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The world begins as a spark from the Sun
The book opens with a boy lying in bed, wondering what the world would be like with no people at all. He steps back through time, from people to animals, to plants, to bare rock, and before that, only stars.
Our Sun, he explains, once sputtered like fireworks, and one spark flew off and cooled into the Earth. Rain filled the hollows to make oceans. Life followed in steps, from tiny plants and fish to animals and at last people. Hillyer says plainly that he is guessing, but arrowheads and stone hatchets show that people lived long before iron.
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- Bigger, clearer type. Easy on the eyes for long evenings and for reading aloud.
- Large print hardcover
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Hannibal crosses the Alps, Columbus stands an egg on end, and a Spartan answers a king with one word.
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Details
- First published
- 1924
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 316 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 316 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 504 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 504 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Tue 1 Dec to Mon 7 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Hillyer, V. M. A Child's History of the World. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-childs-history-of-the-world.
Hillyer, V. M. (2026). A child's history of the world. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-childs-history-of-the-world (Original work published 1924)
Hillyer, V. M. A Child's History of the World. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-childs-history-of-the-world.
@book{hillyer2026childs,
author = {Hillyer, V. M.},
title = {A Child's History of the World},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-childs-history-of-the-world},
note = {First published 1924}
}
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What is A Child's History of the World about?
It tells the story of the whole world in order, from the Sun, the first rock and Stone Age cave people through Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, the discovery of America, revolutions, inventions and the Great War.
Who is A Child's History of the World for?
It is written for children of about nine, with short sentences, jokes and questions. Parents and teachers also use it as a first outline of world history, since it follows one clear time line from start to finish.
What is the Staircase of Time in the book?
It is a picture Hillyer uses to show how time is arranged. Each step stands for one hundred years and each flight of steps for a thousand, so a child can see where every event sits.
The author
V. M. Hillyer
American educator and children's author
Virgil Mores Hillyer (1875–1931) was an American educator and writer. He was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and worked in Baltimore, Maryland, as headmaster of the Calvert School. He wrote A Child’s History of the World, first published in 1924, and books about geography and art for children.
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