Cities Unfolded: London Through Time

London Through Time is educational and interactive. It is constructed as a concertina fold-out with eight double-sided panels rather than in the traditional book format. On the first panel, readers are introduced to Maisie and Max who then guide them through the various eras described in the subsequent panels. Each panel contains a specific period from history. The first side starts from Roman times, and ends with the Victorian period while the other side starts with the Edwardian period and goes up to the present time. The final panel contains more information about London and a quiz in which the reader has to find various elements in the illustrations.

There are one or two sentences per panel, and the illustrations provide a visual cornucopia of the changes to London life and architecture through the ages. As the reader unfolds the panels there are various London street scenes from the periods covered. The panels form an enjoyable and informative timeline and are laid out cleverly, so that they are continuous but differentiated enough from each other to be interesting rather than confusing. A number of notable places appear in the illustrations, including St Paul’s, Big Ben, the Thames, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye and the Shard. Key events include the Black Death, the printing press, the Great Fire of London, the suffragettes, World War I and World War II. London is visually depicted at key times and key events are indicated by the text below. London Through Time is an extremely accessible and informative educational foldout. Finally, it is beautifully produced with a plethora of detail, and is fun to use.