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There is a version of this book which is over 600 pages, and goes into a lot more detail, but as someone who struggled with history at school and is very slow to read non fiction I would never consider even trying to read it. So I was delighted to find that there was a children’s version of the book that would cover it more at my level – the words are more spaced out too!

It covers black British history as far back as the Romans, then jumping forward to the Tudors and working through from there to the 20th Century. It’s a great resource covering so much that we weren’t taught in school, or in other ways we learn about our country.

One of the things that stood out to me the most was that the celebrated abolition of the slave trade in 1807 was not the end of slavery; it was only the trade that became illegal at that point, but it can tend to be talked about it like everything was done at that point.

The book is also full of illustrations and images to help follow what’s going on. It’s a really accessible book, and so if like me, history isn’t your thing, this is a non-scary way of learning a bit more. I think I’ll need to read it a couple more times over the years for a refresh, but it’s not difficult to read!