I recently wrote a post about hands-on activities to help you explore Ancient Egypt. THIS post is a complementary post to that one, on books you can use to study Ancient Egypt.
Included in this list are the books that we found the most interesting and ones that sparked great conversation. As I’ve shared in other posts, we like to use mostly living books for studying history. We used them as read-alouds.
There are so many books about Ancient Egypt to pick from! This is just a fraction (but a GOOD fraction) of them!
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Usborne Books
Oh, how we love our Usborne books! The two Usborne books that we used the most as we studied Ancient Egypt were Time Traveler and Pharaoh’s & Pyramids
Time Traveler is a great one that covers many different age periods and the Ancient Egypt portion is just one part of the book. My daughter actually reads this one a lot but more for the section on the Middle Ages.
Pharaoh’s & Pyramids is out of print, but you can probably get it from your library or eBay. The pictures are just so detailed and even humorous at times. We had a great time looking at this one together. This one is not available on Amazon but you can probably find it at your local library or eBay.
What I love about Usborne non-fiction, is the way they just take small parts of text and include it amidst great illustrations. They can be used by all different ages of kids.
Historical Fiction Novels
A Cry From Egypt by Hope Auer
A Cry From Egypt was not on my original book list for the year, but a friend of mine who is doing Cycle 1 with CC, posted that her family had enjoyed this book. I was not able to get it at the library so I purchased this one on Amazon.
My kids REALLY liked this one. With lots of cliffhangers and tons of heart, this book was a favorite. It’s the story of a 12 year old Jewish girl living during the time of the 10 plagues. The kids begged me every day to read more. There is a sequel, A Stand at Sinai, that my daughter begged me to buy. She read it on her own and loved it as well.
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Also set in Ancient Egypt, The Golden Goblet is the story of Ranofer, an Egyptian boy who lives under the oppression and abuse of his evil half-brother, Gebu. Ranofer’s main desire is to be a master goldsmith, but he has to figure out a way to escape Gebu.
This novel was not as much of a crowd pleaser as A Cry from Egypt, and my son liked it much more than my daughter. It was slower to start but still very interesting and shed light on what life was like for common people in Ancient Egypt.
Picture books (not just for younger kids!)
The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle: Solving a Mystery of Ancient Egypt by Claudia Logan
The reader can participate in what an actual archaeological dig would have been like. This book uses actual historical information from Dr. George Reisner’s archaeological dig of 1924. It puts it together in a way that really engages the reader. Lots of great pictures combined with information in a very pleasing format.
Ancient Egypt by Daniel Cohen
What makes this book stand out is the exceptional and large illustrations. The illustrations are accompanied by text on each page and you will know a ton more about Ancient Egypt after reading this informative book! Unfortunately, this is another one that is hard to find. I was able to get it at our local library.
If you’re looking for a movie, then there, of course, is the beloved Prince of Egypt, always a favorite!
