Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded (Jobs in History)
Grade 3–5—This book takes a clever approach to teaching kids about ancient Egyptian life. After a brief introduction, various jobs are discussed, such as archer, herder, grinding girl, and noblewoman, with each entry relating how the role fits into society. The jobs are arranged by type ("Nile Jobs," "Assisting Pharaoh Jobs," "Entertainment Jobs") into 15 chapters. Written in the second person, these short descriptions, along with the color cartoon-style drawings, attempt to entertain and educate at the same time. For the most part, this technique is successful, but the tone is a bit patronizing and overly simplistic in an attempt to make the material entertaining. Jacqueline Morley'sYou Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder(Watts, 2004) is more successful at this format and at making history enjoyable in a factual way.—Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.