A Tale of Ancient Egypt (Dover Children's Classics)

The BrandenburgStudies ebook edition is obviously not edited for Kindle. The line breaks after a few letters, often in the middle of words. Too expensive for such poor quality, no wonder there was no sample.

This book is recommended in homeschooling circles as a supplement to Egyptian studies (in my case, for 6th grade). My son could read this but it is quite long (300 pages) and while there is nothing in it to make it off-limits to children, I would suggest it for a higher grade level, maybe 8th grade to high school. The language is a bit challenging but mostly the situations, for example the descriptions of battles (who took which positions, how they broke thru the lines of defense, etc), and the reasoning behind the actions of the different characters would be better understood and appreciated by an older audience. The way this book is written puts me in mind of other novels of the same period that I've read, like Ben Hur and The Robe. I thought it was interesting that most the wise and learned character concluded that Egyptian Gods were all aspects of one great God (this was even in the concluding paragraph) and wondered whether this was a sort of Christian undercurrent to the story. Its description of Egyptian life is good but is of the later kingdoms when animals were sacred and sometimes mummified rather than the earlier kingdoms. It could spark interest and generate understanding for the other peoples surrounding and interacting with the Egyptians as well, who are hardly mentioned in most of our history educations!

My 11 year old granddaughter used to love ancient Egypt but I must have been too late! She seemed excited when I gave it to her for Christmas and promised she would read it right away. She tells me she's still working on it but if she had really loved it it would have been read by now. Am going to get it back and give it a read. I think I just missed her Egyptian phase!!! So I really didn't know how to rate it.....don't think it was book that got an okay rating....it was my granddaughter!

This was my first foray into the Henty canon, and I'm looking forward to absorbing more of his adventures. "The Cat of Bubastes" is filled with memorable characters, interesting historical interludes, and vivid descriptions, all of which combine to create a complete sense of time and place - and this is not easy to do when telling a story set in an environment as foreign and far-removed as Ancient Egypt.

As in many Henty novels, the young men who are the heroes of this story are strong and resourceful, and follow a moral compass. They treat women and girls with respect and honor; they are eager to expand their minds and gain useful experiences; and they are not afraid to face an evildoer with a weapon in their hands - and even put a stop to his villainy by ending his life if deemed necessary.

Some readers have called the novel "boring" because of its detailed descriptions of Egyptian culture. Admittedly, Henty does have a tendency to alternate between thrilling action sequences and lectures about daily life. To me, though, this demonstrated the depth of his research and his commitment to fleshing out the ancient setting.

So much of today's youth literature sacrifices good storytelling in an effort to hold a kid's attention through continual action, bathroom humor, or angst-filled characters. It was refreshing to me to read a book aimed at the young people of a century ago, and to find an author who wanted to instruct, entertain, and shape the character of his readers in a positive way.

This is definitely not a book for children as some others tried to say. There is very, little almoast nothing, about the sacred cat in the book. You have to read nearly half the book to find it. Then when I think it is finally going to tell something good and heartwarming about the sacred cat they go and kill it. They try to hide what they have done and try to get away with murder. How Horrible then to add insult to injury they make the one who killed the cat a hero. I would not recomend this book to anyone. I kept hoping the Egyptians would catch the ones who killed the sacred cat and make them pay. It is a degrading stroy and is not about the ancient religion or ancient way of life in Egypt and is more about converting it and subverting it to the one God relion and conquering Egypt and making ancient Egypt look bad than anything aobout what ancient Egypt was like. It is a very slanted biased point of view. As a pagan I find this book lacking of any substance at all in very many ways. I wasted my time trying to read it. I was hoping to glean some small bit of knowledge about Egypt, but there was none.

This book was exciting from the very beginning until the very end. I thought it was one of the best books I've ever read. It is about a Rebu Prince who lost his kingdom, his father, his family, and his home to the Egyptians in battle and was taken captive to Egypt. There, he was made a slave with his friend, Jethro. But he was not sad there for he was chosen by the high priest of the temple of the god, Osiris. Amuba, the Prince, made a friend at the priest's house, called Chebron. The main part was when they were outside trying to shoot a hawk who was killing all the water fowl. They both fired their bow and arrows. Since the prince had been in a battle, he hit the hawk but Chebron, who had never been in a battle before, missed and killed the sacred cat. In Egypt, if you kill a cat, you will be killed. From that point on in the story, things get exciting. People die, battles happen, the Prince and his comrades flee. In the end, Chebron is save because of the heroics of his friends. I rate this book a 5 star. If you want any kind of book just read this one!!

If you're looking to provide historically-rich literature for your home, the Henty series is an excellent option. Besides the obvious of reading an enjoyable book based on historical fact, these stories are an easy way to increase the reader's patience and attention span. Additionally, immersing oneself in skillful writing is a simple method of promoting good grammar.

If you're a homeschooling family who intends to school through high school, reading these stories (silently or aloud) is an effortless way to prepare your students for more demanding authors such as Hawthorne or Shakespeare. Even though our children are grown and are attending college, we've opted to keep this series of books because they really are a great read.

I had to read this for my homeschool curriculum, and it was good, but, like most other reveiwers said, it could have done better without the detail. It had a great story plot, but it was hard to really get into the story with all the detail. It was hard to stay with the story too...like right in the middle of a life or death situation Henty starts going into great detail about the scenery, landscape, etc. It was also pretty much impossible to get attached to the charaters the way most books make you do because every charater spoke painfully formally all the time. There weren't any heartfelt conversations. I must say though, I was delighted with the last few chapters, which covered an event almost exactly identical with Disney/Walden's Prince Caspian movie!!! Which makes me realize that this book would make a great movie... you know, keep the story line but let all those details be briefly observed in passing. I am glad I read the whole book, but I must say that if it had not been a school assignment I would have given up long before only 50%, which is when the story picks up.

This story was charming! It was a fun ride through ancient Egypt. And the characters were very endearing (not deep or layered, but endearing nonetheless). On the flipside, it had a choppy style of story-telling. And lots of repetitive dialogue. But that's the old-fashioned way of writing. So it was easy to overlook. I like the way the author wove bits of history & culture into the story. Overall a fun read!

This story was charming! It was a fun ride through ancient Egypt. And the characters were very endearing (not deep or layered, but endearing nonetheless). On the flipside, it had a choppy style of story-telling. And lots of repetitive dialogue. But that's the old-fashioned way of writing. So it was easy to overlook. I like the way the author wove bits of history & culture into the story. Overall a fun read!