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Children's Books on Ancient Egypt

Tamara Bower is an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books on ancient Egypt: Entertaining, Educational, Beautiful.

The Mummy Makers of Egypt

 

Using the classic style of Egyptian art, the book is painstakingly accurate in facts and illustrative style. Artifacts, funerary customs, kid-loving gory details of the mummification process, hieroglyphics, and details of life in ancient Egypt are told through the eyes of Ipy whose father is embalmer to the King. Yuya, father of the Queen, has died and Ipy must help his father in the mummification process. Yuya is an actual mummy and the discovery of his tomb is an entertaining story in itself; with the archaeologist Theodore Davis fainting at the sight of so much gold, and the portly Gaston Maspero getting stuck while trying to climb into the tomb. Yuya's tomb was a spectacular discovery in the Valley of the Kings that was later overshadowed only by the discovery of King Tut, Yuya's great-grandson. The book features sidebars of hieroglyphs and their meanings and pronunciations, a map, and an afterword telling more about the life Yuya, of the burial process, and of ancient Egypt in general. While there are a number of children's books on mummies, none are told from the point of view of the embalmers themselves, and none illustrated with the meticulous eye of Tamara Bower. 

 

 

Buy here:

http://catalog.sevenstories.com/products/the-mummy-makers-of-egypt

 

"A charming and well-researched book with vivid, engaging, exquisite original artwork by Tamara Bower that brings ancient Egypt to life. A delight for children, aficionados of ancient Egypt, and scholars. It is definitely on my Christmas present list!"

— Dr. Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology, American University in Cairo

How the Amazon Queen Fought the Prince of Egypt

 

 

CAN WOMAN EVER CONQUER MAN?

 

Queen Serpot rules the Land of Women, where the Amazon women live free, without men, and hunt and fight their own battles. But one day their peace is broken. An army of Egyptian soldiers is approaching their land, led by their prince, Pedikhons. Pedikhons has heard stories of these warrior women. Now he has come to see them with his own eyes -- and to challenge them to combat. But the brave Serpot and her women are full of surprises. Can woman truly equal man in strength and courage? This story of love and war is based on an actual Egyptian scroll from the Greco-Roman period. Hieroglyphic translations of key phrases, intricate paintings in the Egyptian and Assyrian styles, and extensive notes about both cultures enrich this fascinating, untold legend.

Buy here:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/How-the-Amazon-Queen-Fought-the-Prince-of-Egypt/Tamara-Bower/9781481425261

 

Reviews:

“Pyramid Schemes” by Meg Wolitzer, New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/review/15WOLITZE.html?_r=0

Starred review in Kirkus

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tamara-bower/the-shipwrecked-sailor/

 

Awards:

The Africana Book Award for Young Children, 2006

ALA Amelia Bloomer Award for Nonfiction Picture Book, 2005

BCCB –  Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award 2005

The Shipwrecked Sailor

 

This story is based on one found on a papyrus scroll of hieroglyphs from the nineteenth century B.C., Egypt. It tells the tale of a voyage on the Red Sea to a mysterious and enchanted land of riches located south of Egypt.

 

On his way to the King's gold mines, a sailor is shipwrecked on a magic island, the Island of the Soul. Not long after he arrives, a gigantic serpent with scales of gold appears and reveals to the sailor that he is the Prince of Punt, and is also a lone survivor. The two become good friends, but one day a ship comes to rescue the sailor. Bearing gifts from the Prince, the sailor returns to Egypt with full hands, and a full heart.

 

This is a tale of the surprising (and fortuitous) bonds that unite us, and of the good that comes to us when we least expect it. Tamara Bower's lush illustrations are rendered in Egyptian style, and phrases from the story appear in hieroglyphs with their literal translations

 

Buy here:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/The-Shipwrecked-Sailor/Tamara-Bower/9781481425254

 

"Egyptologists have long considered the fable of The Shipwrecked Sailor one of the most remarkable fairy tales to survive from the time of the pharaohs. Ms. Bower's original, vibrant illustrations, inspired by Egyptian wall paintings, truly bring this exciting adventure to life."

- Dr. James Romano, egyptologist and former curator at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
 

"Tamara Bower's book, The Shipwrecked Sailor, provides delightful and instructive insight into the ancient Egyptian's imagination, as expressed in their literature and art. With hieroglyphs aptly translated by Melinda Hartwig, both children and adults will find this an entertaining, instructive, but above all beautiful book, a window on the Egyptian imagination that few other books of this genre can equal."

- Dr. David O'Connor, Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU

 

Forthcoming


Tamara Bower is working on a new book. It's a secret! She will let you know when it's ready!

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