- Non-Fiction
- Ages 7–11
- Social History
A Day in the Life of a Caveman, a Queen and Everything In Between
Book 2 of 4 in A Day in the LifeView the full series
A comic, dip-in history book that makes the past feel noisy, weird and funny. Strong for children who think history is boring until it arrives as gladiators, pharaohs, trench dogs and absurd first-person cartoon diaries.
- Best for7–11
- FormatNon-fiction
- Length128 pp
- Read aloud~1 hr50 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
- Onomatopoeic
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Irreverent
- Exciting
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
This second A Day in the Life book takes the same comic non-fiction approach and applies it to history. Instead of long chronological chapters, readers get short, funny entries from early humans, queens, gladiators, explorers, animals from history and strange objects that have witnessed major events. The format is busy, colourful and deliberately accessible, with Jess Bradley's cartoons turning historical facts into lively visual jokes and Mike Barfield's writing giving the past a mischievous voice. It is not a deep narrative history, but that is its strength: children can dip into a page about cave painting, the Colosseum, space travel, ancient Egypt, Rapa Nui or the First World War and come away with a memorable hook. It works well for reluctant readers, quiz-loving children and families who want history to feel entertaining rather than worthy.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 7–11
- Read aloud · 6–10
- Independent · 7–11
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Funny history
- Comic non fiction
- Dip in reading
- Reluctant readers
- History facts
Avoid if
- Wants linear history
- Prefers story driven books
- Wants calm bedtime reading
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Struggling with reading
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Funny, fact-packed history that reluctant readers actually choose — a lively companion for history topics and strong for retrieval.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific delight is the diary entries — cave painters, gladiators, Egyptian queens, trench dogs, all narrating their own days in cartoon form, Jess Bradley's pictures turning each fact into a punchline. The history-non-fiction for a child who can't sit through a chronological textbook.
- Trickery and cleverness
Why parents love it
The Mike Barfield / Jess Bradley history companion — short comic entries, dip-in structure, history as noisy and weird and funny. Strong for reluctant readers and quiz-loving kids. Same formula as the body book, applied to gladiators and pharaohs.
- Shared humour
- Educational for adult too
- Quick to read
- Conversation starter
In the series
A Day in the Life.
4 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
When you buy through the links above, we may earn a small commission — it never costs you more, and it never changes the books we choose. How we’re funded →