Solid introduction to Ancient Egypt for younger readers
Customer Rating: 
This is another in the series of books published under the "Eyewitness Books" imprimatur. These are designed for younger readers, to introduce them to important subjects. The focus here? Ancient Egypt.
To understand human history, a sense of Egypt's role is critical, just as the study of Greece and Rome. This book does a nice job for its audience; those who want in depth discussion ought to look elsewhere.
The volume begins with a brief history of Egypt and notes the role of the Pharaohs (including an enumeration of some of the more important/renowned (e.g., Akhenaton, Ramses, Thutmosis, and Tutankhamen), with some consideration of the nature of the royal court.
In some ways, as with many others in this series, the approach is "pastiche," featuring a variety of subjects, each discussed quite briefly. But, when one pouts these together, the end result is a decent introduction to key features of the subject covered.
One gets a sound introduction to "everyday life" in Ancient Egypt, including coverage of such topics as food and drink, song and dance, magic and medicine, writing, adorning the body, and so on.
In short, a nice volume for younger readers, to provide them some background regarding an important subject for understanding who we are and where we came from. Also worth noting is the wonderful set of rich illustrations.
