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Historical Notebooks
Cleopatra: Queen of Egypt
Meet the woman who became the icon.
The story of Cleopatra’s life has captured the imagination of countless writers and artists for centuries. As one of history’s most enduring figures, much lore has obscured the real woman behind the myth. Was she a beautiful and heartless schemer who stopped at nothing to get what she wanted? Or was Cleopatra a tragic victim of her own heart? This next volume in the acclaimed Notebook series offers a fascinating look into the world of one of Egypt’s most notorious leaders. Featuring a fictional journal that invites us into Cleopatra’s inner world, this is an exquisite guide bursting with gorgeous illustrations and packed with fun interactive extras such as flaps featuring historical facts and pop-culture references.This is a riveting volume rife with battles, passion, and even murderous intrigue — an exclusive look into the legendary queen’s dramatic life.
The story of Cleopatra’s life has captured the imagination of countless writers and artists for centuries. As one of history’s most enduring figures, much lore has obscured the real woman behind the myth. Was she a beautiful and heartless schemer who stopped at nothing to get what she wanted? Or was Cleopatra a tragic victim of her own heart? This next volume in the acclaimed Notebook series offers a fascinating look into the world of one of Egypt’s most notorious leaders. Featuring a fictional journal that invites us into Cleopatra’s inner world, this is an exquisite guide bursting with gorgeous illustrations and packed with fun interactive extras such as flaps featuring historical facts and pop-culture references.This is a riveting volume rife with battles, passion, and even murderous intrigue — an exclusive look into the legendary queen’s dramatic life.
30 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Clint Twist
156 books3 followersClint Twist has written more than 85 books for U.K. and U.S. publishers in the fields of science, nature, and history, and for readers of all ages. Some of his books include Charles Darwin and the Beagle Adventure, The Mythology Handbook (with Dug Steer), and The Oceanology Handbook.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 26, 2014
The book was a bit similar to my book Egyptology but it was really good and mysterious.
April 15, 2016
This review published by The Children's Book and Media Review
Many stories are told about Cleopatra and the exciting life she led, but sometimes it is hard to tell fact from fiction. This book is a mix of fictional and nonfictional things about her life. The double spread pages focus on an aspect or event in her life, detailing her birth, childhood, path to becoming a paragraph, falling in love, war, and her final death. Each page also has flaps to include extra details about life in Rome and Egypt at the time of Cleopatra. Each page is covered in illustrations, small paragraphs of text, and usually has a fictional journal entry like what Cleopatra might have written.
In the style of the popular “Ology” series, this is part of a series called Historical Notebooks to give an interesting approach to discussing a particular historical figure. For the most part, it is a good introduction to Cleopatra, Egypt, and Rome. The book is well-organized and makes it easy to follow the known events of her life. It would have been improved, however, with leaving the fictional accounts off or making them a bigger part of the book. As they are, it is confusing for just a small part of the page to be fictional and then have the rest of it be nonfiction because it makes the fiction either seem true or the nonfiction less valid. Some of the flaps are interesting and useful, such as discussions of mummification or Egyptian hairstyles, but others are unnecessary. Either one side is just a pattern, or there are illustrations that could be placed elsewhere or left off, making the time it takes to flip over the flag unnecessary. Although it is a good resource to learn about Cleopatra, some of the execution could have been better.
Many stories are told about Cleopatra and the exciting life she led, but sometimes it is hard to tell fact from fiction. This book is a mix of fictional and nonfictional things about her life. The double spread pages focus on an aspect or event in her life, detailing her birth, childhood, path to becoming a paragraph, falling in love, war, and her final death. Each page also has flaps to include extra details about life in Rome and Egypt at the time of Cleopatra. Each page is covered in illustrations, small paragraphs of text, and usually has a fictional journal entry like what Cleopatra might have written.
In the style of the popular “Ology” series, this is part of a series called Historical Notebooks to give an interesting approach to discussing a particular historical figure. For the most part, it is a good introduction to Cleopatra, Egypt, and Rome. The book is well-organized and makes it easy to follow the known events of her life. It would have been improved, however, with leaving the fictional accounts off or making them a bigger part of the book. As they are, it is confusing for just a small part of the page to be fictional and then have the rest of it be nonfiction because it makes the fiction either seem true or the nonfiction less valid. Some of the flaps are interesting and useful, such as discussions of mummification or Egyptian hairstyles, but others are unnecessary. Either one side is just a pattern, or there are illustrations that could be placed elsewhere or left off, making the time it takes to flip over the flag unnecessary. Although it is a good resource to learn about Cleopatra, some of the execution could have been better.
January 17, 2013
Queen of Egypt Cleopatra
Candy Tree, 2000, 69pp, $10. 99
Shakespeare
ISBN: 957-8340-65-6
There was the Triumvirate that once the entire Rome was under Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus’ controls before Julius Caesar became the great dictator of Rome. As the main character of many books and movies, Caesar is very famous. However, how many people know the great General Antony during the same time period as Caesar? And how many people know the little woman of Antony —— Cleopatra?
Queen of Egypt Cleopatra is another great book of William Shakespeare. The great General Antony conquered the Egypt, but he eventually fell in love with the Egypt Queen Cleopatra. While Antony was soaking in the wine, his brother and wife joined the battle field -- fighting against Caesar and died. Antony soon knew the news and travelled back to Rome. Caesar was mad at Antony because he “broke” his promise of helping him, but they reconciled quickly under Lepidus’ convincing. However, the power-thirsty Caesar was not content with the Triumvirate and assassinated Lepidus, one of the triumvirs. As the last triumvir that blocked on Caesar’s way, could Antony survived and spent the rest of his life with his beloved Cleopatra?
As I read this book, I can see the different personalities of heroes that they can possibly be evil. It’s weird that the hero I saw in the movie was really a demon in the book. But still, this book is a book that can inspire you to question yourself . It is a nice friend to young readers who like to read about historical fictions.
Yearning to join the battle once? So what are you waiting about? Join the war between Antony and Caesar —— experience the feeling of being Caesar or his opponent!
Candy Tree, 2000, 69pp, $10. 99
Shakespeare
ISBN: 957-8340-65-6
There was the Triumvirate that once the entire Rome was under Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus’ controls before Julius Caesar became the great dictator of Rome. As the main character of many books and movies, Caesar is very famous. However, how many people know the great General Antony during the same time period as Caesar? And how many people know the little woman of Antony —— Cleopatra?
Queen of Egypt Cleopatra is another great book of William Shakespeare. The great General Antony conquered the Egypt, but he eventually fell in love with the Egypt Queen Cleopatra. While Antony was soaking in the wine, his brother and wife joined the battle field -- fighting against Caesar and died. Antony soon knew the news and travelled back to Rome. Caesar was mad at Antony because he “broke” his promise of helping him, but they reconciled quickly under Lepidus’ convincing. However, the power-thirsty Caesar was not content with the Triumvirate and assassinated Lepidus, one of the triumvirs. As the last triumvir that blocked on Caesar’s way, could Antony survived and spent the rest of his life with his beloved Cleopatra?
As I read this book, I can see the different personalities of heroes that they can possibly be evil. It’s weird that the hero I saw in the movie was really a demon in the book. But still, this book is a book that can inspire you to question yourself . It is a nice friend to young readers who like to read about historical fictions.
Yearning to join the battle once? So what are you waiting about? Join the war between Antony and Caesar —— experience the feeling of being Caesar or his opponent!
Read
September 25, 2018My friend’s son found the book interesting although he is not a big fan of ancient history. The format is very busy and there’s a lot happening on each page but the information is excellent. The author doesn’t “talk down” to the child. This is a pretty thorough account of the queen’s life for a book of this nature.
To read our full review, go to the Reading Tub.
To read our full review, go to the Reading Tub.
October 4, 2012
Visually appealing lift the flap / pop up of Cleopatra.
Fun.
Fun.
November 20, 2012
Beautifully designed and nicely browsable. Not sure about its usefulness in report-writing due to use of Cleopatra's "writings," which might cause some confusion in some young researchers.
December 28, 2012
Loved this! YABC review coming soon!
November 24, 2022
Romans were the military superpower in Cleopatra‘s time. They conquered all of Italy, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, most of Turkey and Syria—and they had powerhouse commanders: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Cleopatra was also greatly influential during her time. She had intimate relations with both of these men and had children from them.
In the end, with Mark Antony, she made a suicide pact. She said she preferred to die with dignity rather than be taken prisoner and paraded through the streets of Rome in chains by her enemy. After her death, her oldest son was killed and her other three children were prisoners of Rome.
Education—in a time where it was largely believed a woman’s place was in the home with her family, Cleopatra was well educated as was the Egyptian tradition. She learned to read and write Greek. She learned public speaking, law, philosophy, and money management. She was man’s equal. Possibly it was the quickness of her mind and the cleverness of her conversation that captured men’s hearts, rather than her physical beauty. She was more than meets the eye.
Fun fact: Egyptian hairstyles for rich women was to put a decorated con of perfume and butter on top of their heads. As the butter melted in the sun, it kept their wigs smelling sweet. So strange.
Interesting fact: The mummification process took 80 days…wow
In the end, with Mark Antony, she made a suicide pact. She said she preferred to die with dignity rather than be taken prisoner and paraded through the streets of Rome in chains by her enemy. After her death, her oldest son was killed and her other three children were prisoners of Rome.
Education—in a time where it was largely believed a woman’s place was in the home with her family, Cleopatra was well educated as was the Egyptian tradition. She learned to read and write Greek. She learned public speaking, law, philosophy, and money management. She was man’s equal. Possibly it was the quickness of her mind and the cleverness of her conversation that captured men’s hearts, rather than her physical beauty. She was more than meets the eye.
Fun fact: Egyptian hairstyles for rich women was to put a decorated con of perfume and butter on top of their heads. As the butter melted in the sun, it kept their wigs smelling sweet. So strange.
Interesting fact: The mummification process took 80 days…wow
May 26, 2017
The set up of the book was interesting. It was set up like a scrap book with pictures "taped" in amongst biographical information about Cleopatra and historical information about Egypt and Rome and life in Egypt. Also included are some of the legends about her and her life and quotes from historians about her and poetic ideas as well, such as Shakespeare's description of her in his play. They also included some imagined journal entries by Cleopatra, but it is noted at the front of the book that these are imagined; the only possible writing of hers that has survived is a small scrap of paper.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews