Awful Egyptians

Horrible Histories #3

by Terry Deary, Martin Brown (Illustrator)

Terry Deary returns to one of the most popular of the Horrible Histories topics and reveals more disgusting details about the awesome ancients, their groovy gods, potty pyramids and of course, their mad mummies. Readers can find out how a hunted hippo got his own back on a phoul pharaoh and discover the truth about the cool queen Cleo and the curse of Tutankhaumun. There's also a top ten of phunny pharaohs, a mad mummies quiz and lots of foul facts about the messy mistakes the Egyptians made before becoming mummy-making experts. History has never been so horrible!

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Historical, Humor, Egypt, Reference

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2008

About the author

A former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.

A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.

The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.

Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books are wonderful. They make learning history fun and cool. It combines jokes, historical facts and funny information in a great easy-to-read package. Both reluctant readers and history lovers will enjoy the breezy way history is told in these books. Ideal for 3rd-5th graders and even middle school students. Great as gifts or for a classroom. Too bad all history books aren't this fun!

[Alina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Awful Egyptians" was pretty repetitive and wasn't as interesting as "Awesome Egyptians." Between the two, I'd recommend the latter.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child history was one of my favourite school subjects thus making Horrible Histories the perfect books for me.

Nowadays children have the television series yet I belong to the older group that had the books. Personally, I believe any child who has an interest in history should give these books a go. They’re truly gripping and so many topics are covered.

Honestly, Horrible Histories are well worth a read.

[Sophie Palmer]

Slay frfr

[catherine shaw]

I just love horrible history

[Hadi Mrabet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Awful Egyptians is a historical novel written by Terry Deary. As you can see from the title this book is about Egyptians back in the 3000BC. Throughout this book, there are many illustrations explaining the activities of the Egyptians. As for my first paragraph, I will be explaining the truth about Tutankhamun. Then as my second paragraph, I will explain the awful army. Then finally a conclusion that will explain my favorite parts of the book.

Throughout the history of Egyptians Tutankhamun has always been a great mystery or puzzle. The reason being is because of one issue not while Tutankhamun was living. When he was dead Tutankhamun’s tomb was robbed twice the first robbery they were taking the gold furniture out when they realised it was wood so they threw it back(leaving no traces). The second time they stole all the jewelry except for eight rings. The second robbery they found a hidden passageway that the robbers used. This is the main source of mystery in Tutankhamun’s afterlife.

In Egypt’s history, they have had lots of power. Lots of different nations and armies have wanted this power but I don't come to easy. The reason being is because of Egypt’s awful army. In Egypt’s awful army the soldiers rest one hour in the whole day meaning they are always on alert. The reason he is always alert though is because when they were little they were taken to the army camp to get a beating. In the army camp, a wound is cut over the soldiers eyebrow and his head is split open in a wound. Then at as training the soldier carries a backpack until his back is breaking then has a sip of some foul water. This is why Egypt has such an awful army.

I hope through this essay you have learnt something interesting about Tutankhamun, and Awful army. I would like to recommend this book to my whole sixth-grade class because it's funny but also teaches you interesting facts. I would also recommend this book to Mrs.Slaoui and Mr. Holt. I think the most interesting or exciting part of the book is when you find out that Tutankhamun’s tomb has been robbed again. You would think that they would at least put more security. I hope you enjoyed reading my essay about Awful Egypt.

[Meryem Alami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awful Egyptians (Horrible Histories) is an exciting novel written by Terry Deary and is illustrated by Martin C.Brown.The novel takes place in ancient Egypt where Pharaohs existed.The novel talks about how they mummify a dead (rich) person, only rich can afford to get mummified, others were only buried or given to animals to prey in.The Egyptians believed in many gods such as Anubis, who was the God of Death.He controls whether you should go to Heaven or Hell, he puts your heart on a scale and sees.If your heart is light then you're going to Heaven, if not, you're going to Hell.Cleopatra is said to be an Egyptian, but NO!Cleopatra is from Greek and ruled over Egypt for 100 years, she was murdered by Octavian.

The facts and the funny illustrations made the funny and interesting.They tell cool facts about each Pharaoh and Gods that were during ancient Egypt time (BC: Before Christ).Did you know that in their time, to heal a toothache the doctor would split a mouse and put it in the patient's gum while the mouse is fresh and warm.A lot of Pharaoh’s sarcophagus were put into a pyramid and inside that pyramid there would be a maze so burglars would take away the gold that was inside.The Egyptians would put gold and other jewelry for the afterlife.The afterlife is when either you live in Hell or Heaven.

The most exciting part are the little comic funny parts.However, the most disappointing part is when it talks about wars, I found it really boring.I would recommend this book to people who are interested in it and students who like S.S (Social Studies) because it gives a lot of information and is easy to read for small kids too.I think that these students would enjoy it for the funny and cool facts/information.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was funny but factual. This book was written by Terry Deary.It gives a funny and gruesome way of telling history. There books are hilarious. They can make you laugh your head off. I love this book and the rest of the series.

[Sadhana Bala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books out of the Horrible Histories section.

[Tim Roast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awful Egyptians is one of the Horrible Histories books. It is educational but written in an engaging way through quirky facts, layout and quizzes. In this way it is perhaps different to your standard history books. For example, quite early on there is a list of the top ten phoul pharaohs which normal history books probably wouldn’t have, they’d probably have pharaohs listed chronologically instead, including the less noteworthy pharaohs. And there are other things here that other history books may not have focussed on too, like a brief description of the role Shepherd of the Royal Backside.

There is maybe a tiny bit of repetition here, but the whole is probably a more fun way to get into history of the Egyptians than your traditional history books, and can also be read in bitesize chunks.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another trip down the Horrible Histories memory lane that I started on for no apparent reason but hey ho, here we are.

When I was younger and just getting into history, Ancient Egypt was not my go to favourite subject. Even though there were elements that did interest me and a lot of kids my age were fascinated by the Ancient Egyptians, I could just never get into it.

However, having the HH books there did ignite an interest in me that did mean I read a little bit more about the subject and some of what I learned has stayed with me over the years.

It’s still not my favourite time in history but the HH books definitely helped.

[James Lawner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the last Horrible Histories book I’ve read, this was fun, interesting and insightful and I learned some things I didn’t learn about Ancient Egypt before (They used to treat open wounds with raw meat!). Although, there were some jokes that didn’t land, but this is a series aimed for kids, so what can one do?

[Chinenye Mba]

Filled with facts, stories and lots of fun, most children find ancient Egypt fascinating. This book contains a lot of interesting material on pyramids and the making of mummys, as well as explanations on why Egyptians preserved their dead in this way.

[Maple Class · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about lots and lots of facts about ancient Egyptians. Whether it's how they dies or their bad or good jobs. I enjoyed most of it but there was some really good bits too. Did you know if a Egyptian king died, his wife has to be burned alive too?
By Louis

[The Half-blood Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read The Awesome Egyptians just before this one, and noticed Terry Deary contradicts himself quite a lot between the two. Was his research not thorough enough?

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful as always

[amelia forcina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok ish

It was ok but not to good i was really interested at the start but I think it gets a bit more boring towards the end

[Matthew Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fun and very informative - full of life of things I had forgotten and some I never knew. Gets a bit repetitive towards the end though.

[Tino Tedeschi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty disgusting but still I love it
😜

[Pamela Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

By house I mean my sister's house I bought the whole lot of these for my niece when she was in P3 we often read them together. My kind of irreverent but factually correct history. Just great books for kids who like snot, farts, poops and anything gross, they are educational too.

[Melodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of this book was just too corny. Other than that fact it was a very nice and informative book. Four star.

[Vanessa Hoyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and educational, love the jokes and puns that run though it and the cartoons. Loved these books ever since I was little

[Andy Fleet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good but it could have it could be longer👍

[Andy Lickley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly interesting and unique read as always

[Iza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zelo zabavna, lahkotna, neverjetna dejstva, poučna...

[shweta 🪐 · Rating 4 out of 5]

very funny, loved the show nd the books are even better. highly recommend for 7 - 15 y/o.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Horrible History style.
Still enjoyable and educational.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nostalgia these books give me is brilliant. I loved reading them as a kid and they’re just as good now.

[Eliana Burke · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF: too scary for an 8 year old. I read most of it.

[Olivia Zanetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helped me not feel cold at a swim eat while reading A+