Overview
This is a VERY exciting book. A couple of years ago I had a meeting at The British Museum in London, along with my editor from wonderful publishers Nosy Crow. They wanted a children's book on ancient Egypt that would explain to young people how to read and understand hieroglyphs - quite a challenge!
We decided that the book should feature an exciting adventure story set in 1422 BC in Egypt. It should have lots of great facts, big stunning pictures and challenges where the reader has to decode hieroglyph messages. And here it is:
I am SO excited about this book. The illustrations by James Weston Lewis are simply magnificent, the design is stunning and it really is something special. This is a puzzle adventure with a difference: a hybrid of fiction, fact and picture book - full of rich historical detail and an exciting story.
The reader is challenged to help two children, Nub and Iteti, who have spotted a gang of thieves robbing a tomb. The men drop a note about their next target - they plan to raid the grave of a once mighty queen and steal the gold from her pyramid resting place. But what does the note say? It's in hieroglyphs!
Luckily the book includes an exciting fold-out guide that enables young readers to decode these mysterious symbols and read the messages. But it's not easy! The challenge is to help foil the robbers as they head across Egypt towards the treasure where they are about to unleash a terrible curse...
There are codes to crack, mazes to solve, logic puzzles to work out and many other fun challenges to try as the adventure unfolds. There are lots of clues along the way and fascinating facts to learn about life 3,500 years ago. And yes, the British Museum experts confirmed that the ancient Egyptians did sometimes place curses around tombs!
The book is published to coincide with the British Museum's winter 2022 exhibition about the history of hieroglyphs, centred on the fabulous Rosetta Stone. It's a top read for schools studying ancient Egypt and anyone who loves history, mystery and puzzles!
For any schools interested in an author visit based on this book, I have made a 3/4 size replica ancient Egyptian coffin which I can bring with me! It helps explain about mummies and the beliefs about the dead which were part of that amazing era. You can read more about it here.