thames & Hudson

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Walk like an Egyptian

This year has seen the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, as well as the bi-centenary of the finding of the Rosetta stone and the translation of hieroglyphs by Jean-Francois Champollion.  This has given me the impetus to compile this list of books featuring that fascinating civilization.  It is something that I have wanted to do for a long time.  However I am amazed by the sheer volume of books about the subject.  Mainly I have kept to those published in the last year or so, but I have included some long term favourites from my own library.  I hope you enjoy reading some of them

“The Mystery of the Golden Pyramid” by Adela Norfan and Aaron Cushley is a delightful introduction to Ancient Egypt.  When Sophie moves to Egypt, she is surprised to find a dog in her bedroom, but this is a talking dog who gives her a quest to find and return four lost amulets to the tomb of King Nebra.  It is full of action and humour and will appeal to all KS1 children.  The illustrations are excellent, with some great ‘lift-the-flap’ elements.

“The Curse of the Tomb Robbers” by Andy Seed and James Weston Lewis is an exquisitely illustrated story of intrigue and tomb robbery, in which two children are able to foil the robbers and bring them to justice.  It highlights the importance of reading the hieroglyphs and also the respect that was given to the dead, by the Egyptians.

“Secrets of the Dead” by Matt Ralphs and Gordy Wright is produced by the British Museum and looks at the various forms of mummification found around the world.  Egypt is only one of those places, but the chapter in this book looks at the methods used and at some famous examples such as Tutankhamun and Ramses II.  The book makes for a fascinating read.

“The magnificent book of Treasures: Ancient Egypt” by Philip Steele and Eugenia Nobati.  I have written a full blog post about this book and you can see it by looking for the title on the blog site.  It is a gorgeous book.

“King Tutankhamun tells all” by Chris Naunton and Guilherme Karsten is written by one of our most well-known and knowledgeable Egyptologists.  The illustrations are cartoon style and full of colour and is written in the form of a memoir by the dead Pharaoh.  There is a great deal of humour in the way that it is written, but it is still full of information about the king and also Ancient Egypt itself.

“Mummies Unwrapped” by Tom Froese is written in conjunction with the British Museum and is a fascinating look at the various processes that a mummy underwent; asking many of the questions that young people want to know..  The illustrations are  bright clear and have elements of humour, which really adds to the enjoyment.  The cover is gold, which will add to the attraction for the intended audience.

“Egyptology” by Dugald Steer is the first in a series of truly sumptuous books, full of illustrations, lift the flaps, added artifacts and information about a range of topics.  this book has a gold cover and really gives the reader a sense of the grandeur that was found in Egyptian tombs.  Whilst this is not a new title, it is one that should be the basis of anyone’s collection about Egypt.

“Egyptian diary: The Journal of Nakht” by Richard Platt and David Parkins is the story of a young boy living in Memphis with his family and how he helps foil a gang of tomb robbers and eventually get to meet the Pharaoh Hatshepsut, only to discover that they are a woman (one of very few female pharaohs).  this is a large size book with some fabulous illustrations.  Since its publication in 2005 it has become a staple of all school libraries.

“Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx” by Joe Todd Stanton is the second tale in the “Brownstone’s Mythical collection” series and follows the adventures of Marcy, the daughter of the original hero Arthur, as she attempts to save her father from the clutches of the Great Sphinx.  Children will love the graphic novel format and the fast pace of the action.

“I was there: Tutankhamun’s Tomb” by Sue Reid is a great read for younger audiences.  It is based on the fact that a young boy was involved in finding the stairs which led to the tomb discovery.  it is full of action, villains and  of course introduces the audience to Howard Carter and his patron Lord Caernarvon.

This is just the first section of this rather mammoth post, but I found it o difficult to cut down on the titles to be included.  Join me again for part two of this collection.

 

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A world of Art

The various ‘lock-downs’ that we have had over the last year or so, has meant that many exhibitions have not taken place and there has been no opportunity to go to galleries in order to lift the spirits.  Thankfully so many museums and art galleries have taken up the challenge and have provided a wealth of material online.  There have also been a range of books that look at the world of art and hopefully these will encourage young readers to explore the creative world and to produce their own work in the future.  These are just some of the books that I have seen in the last year and they have greatly enhanced my appreciation of the talent that is there for us to admire, as well as to try and emulate.

Mention the War, 9781911255673

“Flying High in the Sunlit Silence: the aviation art of Jack Berry.  I came across the book when it featured on a programme on the TV and just had to get a copy for myself.  The author is a young autistic boy called jack and he was 13 years old when the book was published.  I was attracted to the book because it features aircraft, but it also has articles by a variety of aviation veterans, as well as the beautiful poem “Say Something Nice” by A.F.Harrold

Kingfisher, 9780753444542

“Who’s in the Picture?” by Susie Brooks  is a delightful look at 20 famous paintings and the images within them.  It is aimed at possibly KS1 children and encourages them to ask lots of questions.  It is a great introduction to the huge range of what we call ‘Art’.

Scallywag Press, 9781912650170

“A gallery of Cats” by Ruth Brown is a delightful and quirky look at art, as a young boy called Tom wanders through an Art Gallery.  Instead of the artists we see the works through they eyes of cats which have been placed in the paintings.  It gives a really fresh and original take on the images that we see.

Book Island, 9781911496151

“The bird within me” by Sara Lundberg is a remarkable look at the early life of the Swedish artist Berta Hansson.  It has been shortlisted for the 2020 Kate Greenaway Medal, which of course looks at the illustration in the nominated titles.  The publisher is the wonderful small company Book Island Books which is based in Bristol and specialized in picture books in translation; they are a favourite of mine.

Phaidon, 9781838660802

“Yayoi Kusama covered everything in dots and wasn’t sorry” by Fausto Gilberti is something of a surprise for me.  I could not believe that I had not come across the artist’s name before, even though she has been creating her work for most of my life.  It is amazing what someone can create using just one basic shape, but this artist brings colour, shape and design together to amaze us with her work.

“Bob goes POP!” by Marion Deuchars is the third in the series about the small black bird called Bob.  This time he is trying his hand at POP art and finds himself in competition with another artist called Roy.  How they overcome their differences and produce some very positive results makes for a delightful take on the modern art scene.

Laurence King, 9781786277718

“Lets make great ART: Colours” by Marion Deuchars is part of a series by this author in which she looks at different aspects of art.  Other works in the series include ‘Pattern’ and ‘Animals’. They are all aimed at the youngest of readers, as they gain confidence with drawing tools and the art of ‘Mark Making’.  The get the imagination flowing.

Usborne, 9781409598893

“How Art works” by Sarah Hull is aimed at the teenage and adult  reader, who want to understand more about the world of art.  It has to be said that for many this is a very difficult area to get to grips with, but this book asks the sort of questions that we all want to ask.

 

“Why do we need Art ?” by Michael Rosen and Annemarie Young asks us some of the major questions about Art.  It does not look at individual works of art in depth but does examine

Wayland, 9781526312587

where the concept of art comes from, what it means to us now and why do we need art in our lives.  It is very up to date, in that it looks at the impact of ‘Black Lives matter’ as well as the experiences of those who have been been outside of mainstream art; this includes poets, artists, sculptors and writers.

Thames and Hudson, 9780500652206

“Modern Art Explorer” by Alice Harman and Serge Bloch allows the reader to dip into some of the great artists of the 20th and 21st century.  The book include artists, sculptors, textile artists, and those who create large scale installations.  Some of the artists are household names, such as Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo but others are know to more specialized audiences.  This makes this book a good choice to dip into as a way of discovering new works.  The text is quite chatty in style and would be suitable for maybe young people over the age of 10 years.