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The Egyptian Box
Tee and her family move to an old house inherited from Great-Uncle Sebastian. There, she is happy to find that the ancient Egyptian box she inherits holds a spirit who will serve her, until she notices changes in her servant's appearance and behavior.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Jane Louise Curry
39 books30 followersJane Louise Curry was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, on September 24, 1932. She is the daughter of William Jack Curry Jr. and Helen Margaret Curry. Curry grew up in Pennsylvania (Kittanning and Johnstown), but upon her graduation from college she moved to Los Angeles, California, and London, England.
Curry attended the Pennsylvania State University in 1950, and she studied there until 1951 when she left for the Indiana State College (now known as Indiana University of Pennsylvania). In 1954, after graduation, Curry moved to California and worked as both an art teacher for the Los Angeles Public School District and a freelance artist. In 1957, Curry entered the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in order to study English literature, but in 1959 she left Los Angeles and became a teaching assistant at Stanford University. Curry was awarded the Fulbright grant in 1961 and the Stanford-Leverhulme fellowship in 1965, allowing her to pursue her graduate studies at the University of London. She earned her M.A. in 1962 and her Ph.D. in medieval English literature from Stanford University in 1969. From 1967-1968 and, again, from 1983-1984, Curry was an instructor of English literature at the college level. She became a lecturer in 1987. Besides her writings, Curry’s artworks are also considered among her achievements. She has had several paintings exhibited in London, and her works have even earned her a spot in the prestigious Royal Society of British Artists group exhibition. Among the many groups that Curry belongs to are the International Arthurian Society, the Authors Guild, the Children’s Literature Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers.
Curry illustrated and published her first book Down from the Lonely Mountain in 1965. This juvenile fiction based on Californian Native American folklore has paved the way for Curry’s expansive literary career. She has penned more than 30 novels, which are mostly based on child characters dealing with a wide variety of subjects. Many of Curry’s writings deal with folklore, such as the Native American folklore that she explores in her novels Turtle Island: Tales of Algonquian Nations and The Wonderful Sky Boat: And Other Native American Tales of the Southeast, and the retellings of famous European folk stories, such as Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Robin Hood in the Greenwood, and The Christmas Knight. Yet she also delves into the genres of fantasy, such as in her novels Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time and Me, Myself, and I; historical fiction, such as in her novels What the Dickens and Stolen Life; and mystery, such as in her novels The Bassumtyte Treasure and Moon Window.
Curry has been honored with many awards throughout her writing career. In 1970, her novel The Daybreakers earned Curry the Honor Book award from the Book World Spring Children’s Book Festival and the Outstanding Book by a Southern California Author Award from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People. The Mystery Writers of America honored Curry two years in a row by awarding her the Edgar Allan Poe Award, or the Edgar, for Poor Tom’s Ghost in 1978 and The Bassumtyte Treasure in 1979. Also in 1979, for her complete body of work at that time, the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People presented Curry with the Distingushed Contribution to the Field of Children’s Literature Award.
Curry resides in Palo Alto, California, and London, England.
Curry attended the Pennsylvania State University in 1950, and she studied there until 1951 when she left for the Indiana State College (now known as Indiana University of Pennsylvania). In 1954, after graduation, Curry moved to California and worked as both an art teacher for the Los Angeles Public School District and a freelance artist. In 1957, Curry entered the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in order to study English literature, but in 1959 she left Los Angeles and became a teaching assistant at Stanford University. Curry was awarded the Fulbright grant in 1961 and the Stanford-Leverhulme fellowship in 1965, allowing her to pursue her graduate studies at the University of London. She earned her M.A. in 1962 and her Ph.D. in medieval English literature from Stanford University in 1969. From 1967-1968 and, again, from 1983-1984, Curry was an instructor of English literature at the college level. She became a lecturer in 1987. Besides her writings, Curry’s artworks are also considered among her achievements. She has had several paintings exhibited in London, and her works have even earned her a spot in the prestigious Royal Society of British Artists group exhibition. Among the many groups that Curry belongs to are the International Arthurian Society, the Authors Guild, the Children’s Literature Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers.
Curry illustrated and published her first book Down from the Lonely Mountain in 1965. This juvenile fiction based on Californian Native American folklore has paved the way for Curry’s expansive literary career. She has penned more than 30 novels, which are mostly based on child characters dealing with a wide variety of subjects. Many of Curry’s writings deal with folklore, such as the Native American folklore that she explores in her novels Turtle Island: Tales of Algonquian Nations and The Wonderful Sky Boat: And Other Native American Tales of the Southeast, and the retellings of famous European folk stories, such as Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Robin Hood in the Greenwood, and The Christmas Knight. Yet she also delves into the genres of fantasy, such as in her novels Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time and Me, Myself, and I; historical fiction, such as in her novels What the Dickens and Stolen Life; and mystery, such as in her novels The Bassumtyte Treasure and Moon Window.
Curry has been honored with many awards throughout her writing career. In 1970, her novel The Daybreakers earned Curry the Honor Book award from the Book World Spring Children’s Book Festival and the Outstanding Book by a Southern California Author Award from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People. The Mystery Writers of America honored Curry two years in a row by awarding her the Edgar Allan Poe Award, or the Edgar, for Poor Tom’s Ghost in 1978 and The Bassumtyte Treasure in 1979. Also in 1979, for her complete body of work at that time, the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People presented Curry with the Distingushed Contribution to the Field of Children’s Literature Award.
Curry resides in Palo Alto, California, and London, England.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 10, 2021
This book made me slightly uneasy because I figured that there would be more discussion at the end but there wasn't. The story follows a young girl who goes by tee who inherits an Egyptian shabti from her deceased great great great uncle. After her brother reads aloud the hieroglyphics on the shabti, it comes to life. The living doll believes itself to be a servant for an Egyptian princess named Tiye. Tee bosses the shabti around- making it do its chores and homework and even lets it go to school to take her gym and math classes. The shabti falls in love with Tee's life and starts to become her. The fake Tee is a friendlier, kinder, funnier version of the actual Tee. The reader begins to wonder if it would be better to let the fake Tee go on living her life because it would make everyone else happier. With the help of her brother- she is able to trap the shabti and send it back to Egypt.
There were some things that I didn't love about this book. The main one being that there was a complete lack of conclusion. After Tee saw how the shabti was a better person than she was, she made no effort to become better herself. She just remained bitter and isolated- which I thought was going to be the message of the book. I feel that she should have confided in her parents. Logistically, some things do not make sense. Why did Tee resent her school reading so much when the author says several times that she checks out 6 books a week from her library. If reading was such an integral part of her life, why did she go out of her way to have the shabti read and write a book report for her. It seems like something Tee would have had a fun time doing. A lot of the information about Egypt seemed forced and not thought through. I don't feel that the girl on the cover matches the author's description of the protagonist.
I did like the parts explaining how the shabti mistook Tee for Tiye because of how her father calls her "princess" and how her name sounds quite similar.
Idk man
There were some things that I didn't love about this book. The main one being that there was a complete lack of conclusion. After Tee saw how the shabti was a better person than she was, she made no effort to become better herself. She just remained bitter and isolated- which I thought was going to be the message of the book. I feel that she should have confided in her parents. Logistically, some things do not make sense. Why did Tee resent her school reading so much when the author says several times that she checks out 6 books a week from her library. If reading was such an integral part of her life, why did she go out of her way to have the shabti read and write a book report for her. It seems like something Tee would have had a fun time doing. A lot of the information about Egypt seemed forced and not thought through. I don't feel that the girl on the cover matches the author's description of the protagonist.
I did like the parts explaining how the shabti mistook Tee for Tiye because of how her father calls her "princess" and how her name sounds quite similar.
Idk man
April 19, 2017
3.5 stars
August 26, 2014
Heiroglyphs, magic, easy to read, easy to identify with child. Unhappiness inside can make prickly outside. Moral can apply to adults. We can act mean, "Snooty" p 131 when we are lonely. We can learn to enjoy life when threatened with losing what little we have. Someone undervalued or unnoticed can be better, smarter, more generous, step in and save us.
Cowardly lazy over-critical sharp-tongued kid finds out the hard way to appreciate family, life, and changes. She is so hard done by "have to do her own homework forever and ever" p 61. She is so sorry for herself "dinner at the Steak Shack" p 118. Savior is deus ex machina surprise.
'Tee' Leticia hates desert heat of Oasis Wells after cool Portland Maine home, being chosen last for gym teams at Middle School p 26 "too shy to be making friends" p 9, brother Charles in same grade after skipped twice, junk shop inherited from great-great Uncle 'Bass' Sebastian Falls, and especially "determined to dislike the shabti and its box" p 25. Charles reads out the heiroglyph inscription, animates the afterlife servant (always "it", never 'she'), grows to resemble Tee. Daddy's "Princess" likes having chores done, homework, gym class, teaches doll to imitate speech, manner, take her place at school. She acts "unwillingly .. grumpily .. too much of a hurry" p 41, whereas shabti is pleasant, compliant, cheerful.
Could raise other Pinnochio-Gepetto questions. "Frankensteiny monster .. just wants to be real" p 182. At first the doll is empty, 'flesh' without a soul, like Dr Who #11 'Flesh' episodes. Is it evil only because it wants to steal the identity of well-off child? What if it had to survive in slum or war-torn remote desert? as peasant? forced labor?
Cowardly lazy over-critical sharp-tongued kid finds out the hard way to appreciate family, life, and changes. She is so hard done by "have to do her own homework forever and ever" p 61. She is so sorry for herself "dinner at the Steak Shack" p 118. Savior is deus ex machina surprise.
'Tee' Leticia hates desert heat of Oasis Wells after cool Portland Maine home, being chosen last for gym teams at Middle School p 26 "too shy to be making friends" p 9, brother Charles in same grade after skipped twice, junk shop inherited from great-great Uncle 'Bass' Sebastian Falls, and especially "determined to dislike the shabti and its box" p 25. Charles reads out the heiroglyph inscription, animates the afterlife servant (always "it", never 'she'), grows to resemble Tee. Daddy's "Princess" likes having chores done, homework, gym class, teaches doll to imitate speech, manner, take her place at school. She acts "unwillingly .. grumpily .. too much of a hurry" p 41, whereas shabti is pleasant, compliant, cheerful.
Could raise other Pinnochio-Gepetto questions. "Frankensteiny monster .. just wants to be real" p 182. At first the doll is empty, 'flesh' without a soul, like Dr Who #11 'Flesh' episodes. Is it evil only because it wants to steal the identity of well-off child? What if it had to survive in slum or war-torn remote desert? as peasant? forced labor?
August 25, 2019
What would you do if you had your own personal servant? (Like a personal genie). The possibilities are endless I'm sure. Tee Woodie hates moving from Maine to the SW until one day she finds a parcel. Unwrapping the package, she discovers a wooden box with a doll inside and it's from her eccentric late Great Uncle Bass. The doll was wide-eyed with a stiff, black hairdo topped with a yello cap with wings down the sides and a peak at the front like a bird's beak. Her arms were crossed on her chest and from the waist down to her feet, she was carved all in one piece with painted-on white mummy wrappings. The doll at 1st didn't interest Tee until her brother Charles researches hieroglyphic writings on the Internet. She finds out the doll is a magical shabti--a wooden mummy figure placed in a tomb to serve the royal dead. The shabti is accidentally activated when the heiroplyphics come off the mummy's wrappings and the doll thinks Tee is her princess. She suddenly gets some ideas. She asks shabti to do her chores, do her hw and even pretend to be her at gym class. Life is good except the shabti is starting to look and sound more and more human with each request. Even scarier is the shabti is coming out of the box without Tee's commands. Did Tee forget to read all the direction that came with the doll. She'll need an Egyptian expert. Her life depends on it.
August 4, 2022
The story is all about Tee Woodie and she isn't happy because her family needed to move out to fix things up since his Uncle died. Her Uncle left him a gift and it's a shabti doll from Ancient Egypt-- When her brother chanted the words from the shabti it came to life and Tee is happy for she won't be doing some stupid chores or homeworks. As the days pass, the shabti is becoming like Tee and it's taking her life so Tee needed to do something or else she's no longer Tee. As much I wanted the story that Tee is the most annoying main character of all time and the shabti didn't do anything wrong like Tee is pretty darn lazy and always complaining stuff. A bit sad for it didn't describes Egypt a lot and if I can change it the shabti doll has a happy ending like she's got reunited with her 'real' owner then went to the afterlife with her. I hope it won't become a movie or something because it's terrible.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2021
I would give it a 4.5 if I were able to. I remember reading this as a kid, so I was interested to revisit it after all these years. I have to say, the story was pretty enthralling for a kid's novel. It was a very unique premise, having the shabti Slowly take over the protagonist's life. I at first didn't like the protagonist, but she slowly grew on me. She was at first a little bratty seeming, but really she was lonely and afraid to make friends and thought she could have somebody else do it for her. However, she learned the hard way that this doesn't work.
Overall, a good book. I think it would have been a cool ending if it really hadn't been Tee at the end, but the shabti
Overall, a good book. I think it would have been a cool ending if it really hadn't been Tee at the end, but the shabti
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2019
I read this book as a kid and it literally haunted me ( in the best way) into my adulthood. This book is perfect for any kid in your life who likes spooky things and or ancient Egypt. I’m not sure how it reads as an adult because I haven’t read it since 4th grade but I still remember being engrossed in this book.
June 12, 2017
When the Shabti comes to life, Tee thinks it's great; then it tries to take over her life
November 24, 2025
It was entertaining but I will say that this story might just have the fastest ending I've ever read with the exception of the two words "The End".
July 29, 2009
I have a thing for Egyptian themed books so when I saw The Egyptian Box by Jane Louise Curry at my local library I snatched it up. It's about Tee trying to come to terms with being forced to move from Maine to Oasis California. There she is given a shabti (http://www.touregypt.net/shabti.htm) as part of her inheritance from her late Great Uncle who was an antique dealer specializing in unusual and mystical things.
Tee's brother transliterates the hieroglphs on the shabti box well enough to activate the magic to turn the shabti doll into a living, breathing servant who is at first glance at the beck and call of Tee. Tee sees a way out of more than just the mundane chores of setting the table and washing the dishes. The trick is just in teaching the shabti to read and speak English like she does.
The Egypt Box has a heavy dose of "be careful what you wish for." If this book were written for adults Tee would not have fared so well. For a chapter book there is a good deal of suspense. What was a fun way to get out of chores, PE and homework becomes a potentially dangerous threat.
Other Egyptian themed books aimed at younger readers that are worth reading: The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Magnificent Mummy Maker by Elvira Woodruff and The Cat in the Mirror by Mary Stolz
Tee's brother transliterates the hieroglphs on the shabti box well enough to activate the magic to turn the shabti doll into a living, breathing servant who is at first glance at the beck and call of Tee. Tee sees a way out of more than just the mundane chores of setting the table and washing the dishes. The trick is just in teaching the shabti to read and speak English like she does.
The Egypt Box has a heavy dose of "be careful what you wish for." If this book were written for adults Tee would not have fared so well. For a chapter book there is a good deal of suspense. What was a fun way to get out of chores, PE and homework becomes a potentially dangerous threat.
Other Egyptian themed books aimed at younger readers that are worth reading: The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Magnificent Mummy Maker by Elvira Woodruff and The Cat in the Mirror by Mary Stolz
July 26, 2009
This book was one of the first books my mom and I read together and still one of my all time favorites. Tee has just moved into a new house, a new city, and a new life. When she finds an Egyptian box in her uncle's attic, her life will change forever. The box contains a shabti, a servant put in Egyptian tombs to serve the king or queen. When the shabti starts working for Tee, she thinks her life will be easier now. But when the shabti starts liking to be "Tee", Tee and her brother, Charles, must find a way to put the shabti in the box forever.
July 15, 2010
This was a good book about a girl who awakens a Egyptian Servant and gets her to do everything for her. In time she realizes that this servant (shabati) is trying to be her - the shabati locks her in the basement and does other things to stop Lee having a normal life. Lee has to find a way to get her life back - even if it means that she'll have to go to school and do the dishes.
The ending is a bit strange. To easy.
The ending is a bit strange. To easy.
June 6, 2008
I found this book to be okay, but nothing special. It was very predictable and I thought it could have been more suspenseful and exciting. THE EGYPTIAN BOX would probably be suited for about 4th or 5th grade, but not much older. Optional.
October 19, 2011
This is an interesting read, about an Egyptian Shabti that comes to life to serve the Princess that it was buried with thousands of years ago. A fun twist on history set for a fourth grade level, so I believe I will be reading this with my daughter soon.
August 22, 2008
A cute and simple story.
October 28, 2011
Kinda seems a little sci-fi -- embraces idea of a secret robot to do chores, but then things go very very wrong -- only robot is a shabti.
January 3, 2014
Good, solid story with an interesting premise. Would have rated a bit higher, but felt the ending took the easy way out.
December 13, 2019
Not an awful book, just wanted the main character to be less grumpy over every little thing. I think young readers would like this book. They might find it more exciting I know did when I was a kid.
May 6, 2025
0.5stars
Bland story about a girl who received a shabti that comes to life.
Bland story about a girl who received a shabti that comes to life.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews