Customer Reviews

Everything I hoped for and more! - By: M. Alison Heal, 14 Jun 2007
My son is having an Ancient Egyptian birthday party. He has lots of books on Ancient Egypt & I have a degreein archaeology. Do we really need another book? I bought this one knowing it might just repeat what we already knew, but far from it! We have been so delighted with this book. Its manner is very friendly - a little earnest but not annoyingly so. It draws the childin (my son will be 10), offering a mixture of facts & activities & also moments for reflection, such as how cultures may differ but all have somthing positive to teach us. My son is currently making clay pyramids to put into his living, growing model of Ancient Egypt. At the party we plan for children to write their namesin heiroglyphs - we have several heiroglyphic alphabetsin other books but the onein this book actually works! If you've tried before you know how rare that is. The activities are that rare combination of something that children WANT to do along with something they actually CAN do without unreasonable expenditure of money, adult time or resources. I would recommend this book at home or at school, although as a teacher you would loose some of the more intimate touches which probably make this book ideal for home schooling or holiday fun with the family. Children aged from 8 or 9 will be able to use it fairly independently. Younger children will also love many of the activities but would probably need adult guidance.