Your Travel Guide to Ancient Egypt (Passport to History)
Gr 4-8-This flippant tour guide covers far too wide a time period to be effective. Practices changed dramatically throughout the history of Egypt, so that a trip back to only one era is not representative, and this leap-frog approach is even worse. The two maps included are vague. One shows the cataracts of the Nile but does not explain what they are; the other is a bird's-eye view of northern Egypt, the Middle East, and southern Europe. Photographs are of good quality and interesting. Back matter includes a skimpy glossary, a time line, and one recipe. Sidebars on almost every page provide factual tidbits such as prices of common goods, descriptions of how paper was made, a list of gods, care of clothing, and different kinds of food. The pretense of the travel guide gets in the way of the information and confuses readers by jumping through history. The use of terms such as "get a load of this" and "hold the ketchup, hold the mayo" are disconcerting. George Hart's Ancient Egypt (DK, 2000), Rosalie David's Discovering Ancient Egypt (Facts On File, 1994; o.p.), and Neil Morris's The Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Peter Bedrick, 2000) are all better choices.-Carol Durusau, Newton County Public Library, Covington, GACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.