Again, Arslan provides one of the best commentaries on imperialism and religion without managing to be preachy or calling out just one group. That’s what makes me love it.

That and Daryun. *swoon*

As always, brilliant. I'm starting to wonder if there's more trouble brewing for Arslan within his own camp. I hope I'm wrong. There's certainly enough trouble for him from outside the camp.
Kubard is great and I enjoyed seeing him in action again. Al-Farid's brother is a fun new addition. The Princess of Maryam is also going to be an interesting character. I was not expecting her to ally with whom she chose.

I've just pre-ordered the next installment. Come on October 1st!

I want to go read the original version of this story. I am intrigued but this felt rushed and sometimes I didn't catch the shift between characters as quickly as I needed to.

I purchased this book to help me do exactly what the title suggests, to move my teaching beyond the textbook. This past school year (2020-2021) was my first year teaching high school social studies courses and due to the sudden shut downs and the vast percentage of virtual students in addition to my not-so-smooth transition from English to history teacher, I found myself very dependent on our course textbooks. Unfortunately I was locked to book materials and to what I could record through screen cast software. We could do no group work due to Covid-19.

So I wanted to feel excited about teaching again. I lost that excitement this year and I know my students suffered for my personal lack of excitement.

This book gives six fun ideas to build historical thinking skills and to get students to buy into the research and reading processes. History doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be your stereotypical coach showing John Wayne's WWII movies on the rare days the textbook isn't used. All the methods in this book encourage the teacher to create a classroom that works more like a forensics laboratory than a silent library for textbook perusal.

Not all of these methods will work for every classroom, but there are so many examples and ideas that you'll find something amazing for your classroom. More importantly, this book will leave you excited to learn more yourself and to create activities that will help that excitement translate from you to your students.

If you've lost your excitement for teaching this year, don't fear. You can find it again. Maybe this book can help you in that endeavor like it did me.

I give this book five stars.