Ancient Egypt: A First Look at People of the Nile
Grade 2–4—More a showcase for Strachan's art than a primer for students of ancient Egypt, this survey pairs brief explanatory comments with photos of 3-D clay and wood tableaux illuminated by dim, filtered light. After an opening that is addressed to adults, the present-tense text covers one topic per spread, from "The Nile River" through "Pyramids," "Mummification," and related spreads introducing Hatshepsut, Ramses the Great, and King Tut's tomb. The spread labeled "Book of the Dead" neither mentions nor depicts said book, presenting instead a gallery of gods. Though the toylike, generally bare-chested figures of humans and gods are rendered with a fair degree of realism in credible settings, the pyramids at Giza are seen in a distant, aerial view that doesn't capture their scale, and the nearby Sphinx sports an oddly new-looking head atop a crumbling body. There is no map, and the five-item source list is as perfunctory as the text. Consider this a supplementary purchase at best, as George Hart'sAncient Egypt(DK, 2003) is but one of many more informative and visually enticing introductions to the subject.—John Peters, New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.