Mystery of the Egyptian Scroll: An Ancient Egypt Kids Book (1)

Well paced book that engaged pre-teens. Nicely written and age appropriate action

The Mystery of the Egyptian Scroll, by Scott Peters, is a children’s book set in New Kingdom Egypt, in and around the southern city of Luxor. The pharaoh of the time is deliberately unspecified.The plot is lively and straightforward; two children who run a market stall selling pottery, witness a neighbour being accused of theft, and take it upon themselves to investigate. In the process they find out that the accusation is false, but that there is a much deeper and more sinister plot behind it. Basically, in adult terms, they have stumbled into the path of a political move aiming at a palace coup – a problem which did indeed face certain pharaohs of that time.This is a children’s book, so the writing is simple and direct, the characters’ motives are plain and easy to grasp, and the children are supremely competent at solving the problem (albeit at considerable risk to themselves and their family).But the book is also a fantastic introduction to Egypt for children. Places, people and customs are well explained and engaging, so the book is highly educative as well as fun. Problems are solved by thought, perseverance, q the gathering of evidence, and negotiation with key people. There is no magic, and religion is dealt with as a normal part of everyday life. I would happily use this book as a way to bring something of the reality of ancient Egypt to life for a young audience.Technically the Kindle copy I downloaded had a number of problems, in particular with incorrect representation of some characters such as apostrophes. This made the book hard to read in places, especially for a younger audience. I understand that this problem is being addressed and should be fixed before long.Overall a four star book for me – although I prefer adult fiction, I can easily see myself reading The Mystery of the Egyptian Scroll with young people wanting to learn about Egypt.

I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I giveIf the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way.

I'm fascinated by ancient Egypt, and although this is a child's book I really loved the little details of Egyptian life. I also found the story quite fun and would definitely recommend for its intended reading age.

I love how the author created the whole setting and beautifully Brought the ancient civilization to life. I throughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the series.

Good value, quick delivery

Great books to reed to children while they are learning about Ancient Egypt. My son enjoyed listening and I enjoyed reading the books to him. It was a great way to introduce him to history and also to keep his interest going ....We had a great bonding time while discussing the clues and having a go in solving the mysteries .....We can’t wait to get home on the last 5th book.

A nice story, but I need find it a little hard to get into.