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Neferchichi's Tomb
Scribes' Book List
What books best enhance the study of Egypt? Here are our suggestions. Neferchichi's Tomb is associated with amazon.com, so you can click the title of any book to inquire about ordering it online at significant savings. You can also do a general search of amazon.com by using the search field at the bottom of this page.
Books on this list are grouped by the intended audience:
- Teacher Guides (usually contain lesson plans, activity ideas,
and background info.)
- Young readers (appropriate for grades 3 to 6)
- Middle School (appropriate for grades 6 to 8)
- For kids, but adults would also appreciate (grade 6 to adult)
- High school and beyond (serious Egyptologists!)
TEACHER GUIDES
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 Egyptians - Maya - Minoans
Thirty-two pages of the book are dedicated to teaching Egypt.
Includes: pre- and post-tests; bulletin board ideas; learning
center ideas; and many short (one page) reproducible reading
assignments with suggested activities.
 Ancient Egypt
Has background info, activities, and projects on Egyptian geography,
history, life and death, pyramids, and King Tut. There are things
to copy and cut out (like a hieroglyphic numbers translator),
a list of web sites, and a poster of Egypt.
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 A
Coloring Book of Ancient Egypt
Fifty-two scenes from wall paintings, reliefs, and papyri to
color. Xerox them so you don't ruin the book-- or even put them
up with an overhead projector and have kids trace them for tomb-sized
art projects.
 Pyramids: 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience Ancient
Egypt
Ideas for games, food, clothing, art projects, and other creative
activities to let kids explore ancient Egyptian life.
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YOUNG READERS
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 Mummies Made in Egypt
Cute book that describes mummification and funeral customs. I
remember an episode of "Reading Rainbow" on PBS which
featured this book; on that particular show, they also went on
a tour of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and looked at all the
mummies.
 Hieroglyphs from A to Z
Definitely for the younger Egyptophiles, this book lists some
hieroglyphics and explains the sounds they represented. Facts
are scattered throughout the book as well. Included stencils
let kids practice writing their own heiroglyphic messages.
 MUMMIES A Very Peculiar History
Overview of mummification and embalming including ancient beliefs
regarding life after death, rites, rituals, and ceremonies.
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 Pyramids
The art is really nice, and like Judith Crosher's Ancient
Egypt, it has several acetate overlays that let kids change
the view when they flip a page (my favorite one is the embalming
scene).
 Ancient Egypt
Describes ancient life in Egypt. Many photos and illustrations
on every page. What I like best about this book is that includes
the story "Nut's Children," which is an Egyptian myth
that attempts to explain the phases of the moon.
 Ancient Egyptians
This is a nicely illustrated book all about life in ancient Egypt.
The neat thing about it is that it's one of the few books I've
come across that explains a lot about Egypt but at about a third
grade level.
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MIDDLE SCHOOL
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 Time Traveller Book of Pharaohs & Pyramids
The title is a bit misleading, because this book actually covers
much more than just pharaohs and the pyramids. Every square inch
of each page is colorfully illustrated and packed with information.
It also includes a really good chronological synopsis of the
Pharaohs, from Menes to Cleopatra.
 The Awesome Egyptians (Horrible Histories)
This is a funny book of Egyptian facts that caters to the adolescent
sense of humor. For example, in the section about the treasures
buried with Hetepheres, a cartoon shows a crowd of commoners
watching the funeral procession. One guy says to another: "When
I die all I'm likely to take is my favorite stick and my collection
of interesting dung." If you want to know which pharaoh
had the worst acne, you'll have to buy the book!
 Gods & Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology
Twenty-six stories from ancient Egypt recount the gods, goddesses,
and pharoahs that ruled Egyptians' way of life. At the end of
the book, sections on hieroglyphics and symbolism in art make
this book fantastic.
 How to Make a Mummy Talk
When I first heard of this book, the title threw me. "How
to make a mummy talk? Hire a ventriloquist." But after reading
it I realized that the angle of this humorous book was to present
mummies as witnesses of the past which can be studied to help
understand different cultures' beliefs about death.
 Tales Mummies Tell
Egyptian, bog, ice, Peruvian, and other types of mummies are explained, with emphasis on Egyptian ones. Lots of info about how scientists can figure out what life was like when the mummies were alive.
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 Ancient Egypt
If there's one book my students love to look at, it's this one.
Remember in the good old days, when encyclopedias always had
a section that showed a human man, where you could flip pages
of transparent acetate and see his insides layer by layer? Well
this book is like that. There are four sections (the home, the
palace, tombs, and temples) where you can view the inside of
the building by turning the over the previous acetate page. That
may seem like a gimmick, but this is actually a pretty good book.
Lots of photos and good information.
 Into the Mummy's Tomb
This is the best kids' book about Tut that I've come across yet.
Fantastic photos chronicle Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb
and examination of the artifacts within. This book is out of
print, but you can have amazon.com hunt for it by clicking the
title link above.
 The Egyptian News
Like The Egyptian Echo (below), this book is set up like
an Egyptian newspaper, where pages have headlines like "MURDER
FOILED!" (about Queen Teye plotting to kill Ramses III)
and "CRAZY KING CAUSES CHAOS" (about Akhenaton). The
art work is really nice, and the index at the back is pretty
handy.
 Mysteries of the Pyramids
Mostly about the pyramids, but also has information on pharaohs,
hieroglyphics, funeral customs, archaeology, and non-Egyptian
pyramids found throughout the rest of the world.
 Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure
I love this book! This book is one of the most thorough in its explanation of mummification and funerary customs. Since it's cheap, buy a few!
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FOR KIDS AND ADULTS
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 Amazing Facts about Ancient Egypt
Did you know that the earliest known coin-operated machine for
dispensing water was recorded as existing in Egypt? You would
if you had a copy of this book. It's loaded with hundreds of
funny, interesting, and bizarre facts.
 MUMMY (Eyewitness Books)
You gotta love Eyewitness Books, they are so cool to look at!
Several photos against a white background on every page... am
I the only one to notice that everyone is copying their layout
design these days? Anyway, the focus of this book is Egyptian
mummies, but it also covers bog mummies, Sicilian mummies, South
American mummies, and the Ice Man. There are also two other great
Eyewitness books, ANCIENT
EGYPT and PYRAMID.
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 The Egyptian Echo
Like The Egyptian News (above), this book is really neat--
it's laid out like a newspaper, complete with ads ("DEAD
WORLD- for all your afterlife needs") and articles that
report on different aspects of Egyptian life. Kids will love
it, and adults will appreciate the subtle humor, such as a UPC
code made of elongated hieroglyphics instead of those black lines.
The writing style is very clever, I love this book!
 Ancient Egypt (DK Pockets)
Made by the people who produce the Eyewitness series, this one
is pretty similar to their normal sized book "Ancient Egypt,"
but it's only about 3x5! It tells about the Nile, the Kingdoms,
society and daily life, architecture, religion, mummies, hieroglyphics,
and famous pharaohs. There's a lot of info packed into these
tiny pages!
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HIGH SCHOOL AND BEYOND
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 Amulets of Ancient Egypt
This book gives a comprehensive account of the composition, symbolism,
and protective powers of different amulets. Loaded with photographs,
this has to be the best source of info if you want to know more
about amulets.
 A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt
It's more than a dictionary of ancient Egypt-- it's practically
an encyclopedia! I can't recall many times when this book hasn't
been helpful.
 The Complete Valley of the Kings
Zillions of photos, maps, and illustrations document the findings
of the 80+ tombs in the Valley of the Kings. If you need to know
anything about New Kingdom royalty, this is the book to get!
I imagine that it would be helpful for people who are planning
a trip to Egypt as well.
 Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends
This one tells some of the classic Egyptian myths, and provides
lots of interesting analysis to go with them. If you find Egyptian
religion interesting, you'll love this book!
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 The Egyptians
Egyptian places, people, resources, and religion are explained
chronolgically from the Archaic Period to the Late Period. There
are photos and/or illustrations on practically every other page.
 Nubia
Ancient Nubia was in the area that is now the southern part of
Egypt and the northern part of the Sudan. When the Aswan High
Dam was completed in 1971, many Nubian artifacts were lost forever
as the Nile rose and formed Lake Nassar. The Egyptians and the
Nubians shared many customs and beliefs in ancient times, and
this book does a great job explaining it. This is the only book
about Nubia that I have, but if you enter "Nubia" in
the amazon.com search field at the bottom of this page, you'll
see that they have lots more.
 Egyptian Mummies
Along with Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure, I have used this
book extensively in preparation for teaching about mummies. This
is definitely one of the best books about how mummies were made,
the religious beliefs which lay behind this practice, the ornate
coffins and sarcophagi, and the tombs and the goods placed in
them. There are tons of excellent photos of mummies, coffins,
canopic jars, amulets, etc.
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