The Winged Cat: A Tale of Ancient Egypt

by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

In ancient Egypt, a young servant girl and a High Priest must each find the correct magic spells from the Book of the Dead that open the twelve gates of the Netherworld to determine who is telling the truth about the death of the girl's sacred cat

Genres: Picture Books, Mythology, Cats, Egypt, Childrens, History, Animals

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the artwork and the information about Egyptian culture and the afterlife.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dramatic and engaging story about ancient Egypt. The story helps to explain a little bit about religion and the beliefs of people in ancient Egypt and the illustrations are colorful and very representational of pictures from that time. We really enjoyed reading this book together.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child. Whenever we went to the particular library branch that had it, the first thing I always did was walk straight to that shelf and read it. Although Egypt wasn't a particular fascination of mine, I loved the artwork and how each page looked like a leaf of papyrus. I never had any difficulty following the terminology or mythology of the story, and I loved the triumph of the girl and her cat.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful picture book set in ancient Egypt. I enjoyed the artwork immensely, the illustrations are done in a similar style to the art in Egyptian tombs. Facts about ancient Egyptian life, religion and culture are woven through this fable style story, I highly recommend it to children and students interested in cats, art, and ancient civilization.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for any child who loves cats, beautiful artwork, history, and different cultures -- in other words, my child. My son LOVED this book because he always wants to know not only 'why', but 'when', 'what', 'where', and 'how'.

[Anna Mock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read-aloud for ancient Egypt. This was great for elementary age kids. I really appreciate the notes to parents or author's notes sections at the end of books, and this one was really good. The illustrations were beautiful.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful picture book and wonderful telling of the story. I highly recommend for those teaching about Egyptian Mythology/Religion.

[Jill White · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story to introduce Egyptian mythology to a young readers. It's a little violent but no more violent than Greek Mythology.

[CanadianReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Attractive as this text is, as a picture book it is quite opaque, confusing rather than illuminating Egyptian mythology for the young reader (who, apparently, is the target audience). The narrative premise is this: a young girl and a greedy high priest are ordered by the pharaoh to make a journey to the underworld to determine who is telling the truth about the death of a cat. The girl, Merit, is able to pass through the twelve gates by "reading", but what, exactly, she is reading is not clear. Several gods are alluded to, but their roles and domains are not clarified in the text, nor is there any explanation for "ushabtis" woven into the narrative. In most introductory texts for children about Ancient Egypt, Ra is typically identified as the sun god; in "The Winged Cat", however, Horus is confusingly named in that role. In light of these details, I believe that only someone with a good basic grounding in Ancient Egyptian beliefs about religion, the afterlife, and the complex and overlapping pantheon of Egyptian deities would find the book accessible. If it is used in the classroom, I'd recommend it for upper middle school. It's not suitable for the younger set of kids that I had in mind to read it to. Not recommended.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. says she liked this book because the cat got to have more lives after it died. I liked a few aspects of this book but for me, it went too far into detail on the (for lack of a better word) boring points of the story (reading the charms to get into the twelve doors, etc.) and left the plot super light. Kinda conflicted...

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great writer with an interesting perspective on different cultures and eras. Illustrations are colorful and well designed, but I wish Lattimore was a better painter and had a better grasp of anatomy. My sons enjoyd this book for it's story and weirdness.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

great cultural aspect, but for a childrens book there is too much termonology. I would recommend this book to a child who is really very interrsted in egypt and surrounds themselves with it because they will soak up all these complicated terms.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

this author/illustrator has solid background for her ancient tales and great artwork.

[Teri · Rating 1 out of 5]

blah!

[Jean-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good picture book to describe the afterlife journey through the Netherworld and the judgment at the scales of truth to early elementary-aged children.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a little gem: informative (text and images) and engaging. I wish I had found this BEFORE teaching my Ancient Egypt unit!