Mystery of the Roman Ransom

Author: Henry Winterfeld
Lexile measure: 660
Language:  Mild name calling (like "stupid"), no swearing or profanity
Violence: This is about someone attempting to murder one of the kid's fathers (a Roman Senator), but no actual killing takes place in the story.  A character gets locked in the catacombs and is sent to be eaten by a lion (the lion ends up being a tame one).  Grave robbing.
Big Kid Mature Topics: ancient Roman society (gods, drunkeness, beating for poor performance in school).  Mild and subtle romantic elements, not essential to the story.
Illustrations: frequent black and white drawings
Plot:   moderately complex.


The text is not technically difficult, but this book assumes quite a lot of prior knowledge of Roman mythology and background culture.  However, it is an entertaining read, and lacks the graphic violence and language common in a lot of reading these days.  This book is a good one for teaching or reinforcing ancient Roman history.  The one thing that makes this book pretty scary for the younger set is the whole idea of losing a parent.  I decided not to let my daughter read it yet.