Henry Wood has once again made the terrible decision to do math and has been whisked back in time to the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. He’s a bit better equipped for Rome than he was for Egypt thanks to the excellence of the British school system, and his new Roman friends are less confused to find a British boy in their midst than his Egyptian friends were. However, Henry definitely wasn’t prepared for stuffed dormice or Roman public baths, or for the cut-throat competition among Hadrian’s young relatives. Will Henry survive his year in Rome? Why is the female representation in Roman poetry so poor? What do animal guts know about the future? 

Author/illustrator Thiago de Moraes’s take on daily life in Rome is both funnier and more exciting than his previous novel about Egypt, A Mummy Ate My Homework. Once again, there are some liberties taken, but I doubt that many readers think that riding a zebra is a good idea, anyway. De Moraes is right where it counts. His Rome is authentically diverse, chronically overcrowded, and richly colorful. The fast-paced plot shows his deep appreciation for the Asterix comics. There’s a lot more poo in this book than the series’ previous installment, and the descriptions of food are basically gross-out humor, although totally accurate to the Roman source material. It’s enough to make any kid miss New Kingdom Egypt. And become a vegetarian. I recommend this book to all readers, especially Asterix fans and scholars of ancient Rome. – Krishni Burns