What books and movies would my Ancient Egypt-loving 8 year old enjoy?
May 5, 2020 4:32 PM Subscribe
My 8-year old son and I are doing a deep dive into Ancient Egypt as we shelter in place, watching a lecture series on Kanopy. It touched on the Biblical stories of Joseph and the Exodus, so I showed him the Dreamworks movies The Prince of Egypt and Joseph: King of Dreams. He enjoyed them, but they were both stories of outsiders to the Egyptian culture, and he wanted stories with an insider POV. Can you recommend any stories set in Ancient Egypt, from the perspective of someone from that culture?
My son is a hugely visual learner so I’d love movie and TV show recommendations, but he’s also shown a willingness to read about Ancient Egypt and I’d be just as grateful for books that would be at his level. He’s a second grader, I think he reads at or slightly below grade level but if he’s interested in something he’ll work a lot harder at it.
We’ve read The Egypt Game, and just downloaded Ra The Mighty Cat Detective and Rick Riordan’s first Egypt themed book from the library. We have Nextflix and Amazon Prime. I would want to avoid casual racism/sexism, and he’s sensitive to scary things. Thank you!
My son is a hugely visual learner so I’d love movie and TV show recommendations, but he’s also shown a willingness to read about Ancient Egypt and I’d be just as grateful for books that would be at his level. He’s a second grader, I think he reads at or slightly below grade level but if he’s interested in something he’ll work a lot harder at it.
We’ve read The Egypt Game, and just downloaded Ra The Mighty Cat Detective and Rick Riordan’s first Egypt themed book from the library. We have Nextflix and Amazon Prime. I would want to avoid casual racism/sexism, and he’s sensitive to scary things. Thank you!
Do you have the David Macaulay Pyramid book? I read and reread all his books at that age.
posted by Candleman at 4:48 PM on May 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 4:48 PM on May 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
The Egyptian episode of Assassin’s Creed has a “tour mode” with no combat where you simply wander around and learn about temples/monuments as well as daily life for the period.
posted by aramaic at 6:01 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by aramaic at 6:01 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Mara, Daughter Of The Nile is one I loved as a child.
posted by purplesludge at 7:22 PM on May 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by purplesludge at 7:22 PM on May 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
The Met Museum has a stamp sets of hieroglyphics that I coveted at that age. Also still, now that I look at it! Fun With Heiroglyphs, author Roehrig.
posted by clew at 8:20 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by clew at 8:20 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Maybe try the book If I Were a Kid in Ancient Egypt: Children of the Ancient World (a bit expensive new, but there are a lot of decent used copies out there.)
posted by gudrun at 8:27 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gudrun at 8:27 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Seconding "Fun With Hieroglyphs."
It includes a collection of hieroglyph stamps - I loved these when I was about six.
posted by HoraceH at 7:41 AM on May 6, 2020
It includes a collection of hieroglyph stamps - I loved these when I was about six.
posted by HoraceH at 7:41 AM on May 6, 2020
I loved The golden goblet when I was a kid. young apprentice goldsmith in ancient egypt. cannot speak as to whether it holds up. (by the same author as mara of the nile listed above)
posted by annabear at 1:13 PM on May 6, 2020
posted by annabear at 1:13 PM on May 6, 2020
Response by poster: We ended up getting him Egyptology, it was very well received! I will keep the other titles in mind-- thanks to everyone who replied!
posted by shirobara at 4:01 PM on October 24, 2020
posted by shirobara at 4:01 PM on October 24, 2020
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posted by egeanin at 4:36 PM on May 5, 2020 [2 favorites]