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Game #1
The Egypt Game
215 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
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About the author
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
82 books456 followersZilpha Keatley Snyder was an American author of books for children and young adults. Three of Snyder's works were named Newbery Honor books: The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. She was most famous for writing adventure stories and fantasies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,793 reviews
June 27, 2016
Based on Wanda’s excellent review, as well as my own fondness for ancient Egypt, I picked up this young adult book to see what I was missing. I found it reasonably entertaining, although I couldn’t help wishing it was fleshed out a little further.
April has been sent to live with her grandmother and she is resenting it. All of that changes when she meets the upstairs girl, Melanie, her precocious four-year-old brother, Marshall, and his adorable stuffed octopus, Security. They start out telling stories with Melanie’s elaborate paper families but it soon progresses into playacting when they discover an apparently abandoned back yard. Other people are added to their imaginative play. Imagination time becomes compromised when a real-life murder occurs in a nearby neighborhood and their parents are reluctant to allow them outside.
“Well,” April and Melanie said to each other–only just with a look, not out loud, “wasn’t that like a boy. They got things into a mess and then expected a girl to get them out of it.”
I think this would have been a perfect book for me around age nine. Themes involve friends, differences, imagination and secrets. April’s loss of her home with her mother is one of the themes that weaves through the background, adding a humanizing touch to her and showing the way these issues can be processed in the background and not always need processing out loud. Characters, particularly the three that begin the game, seem reasonably well developed. I particularly love the understated way April and Melanie end up become best friends without needing to label it as such. I also liked the way April’s grandmother, Caroline, was portrayed, an understated background role that gave April a chance to develop in her new home. One of the strengths of the book was the feeling of authenticity in their dialogue. Bonus point for having a cast that represented a variety of ethnicities and family structures.
Plotting was fine. I was intrigued by the section with the oracle, as I wasn’t sure where the story was headed, fantastical or real-world, and I’m not sure the children knew either. Some may say that a murder in a children’s book is inappropriate; I disagree. I think it was handled perfectly well, and the children displayed the same self-centeredness that many children in that age group do when coping with such issues. I did find the wrap-up to be somewhat awkward, however. However, an emotionally satisfying ending.
Many young adult books feel the need to pose children and adults in opposing relationships, it was refreshing to encounter adults who allowed kids to get about the business of being kids. The girls are wrapped up in the world of imagination, although they certainly have moments in school and at home where the real world intrudes. I loved the mention of asking a teacher about oracles and leading her off-track. It reminds me of all the games I and my various playmates concocted; the hours spent prepping, the obsessions with getting something ‘right’ according to some mysterious nine-year-old definition of what ‘right’ was.
“When somebody saves your life, it makes him sort of your property, and nobody was going to make fun … with April around.”
Three-and-a-half stars, rounding up because of Egypt and best friends.
April has been sent to live with her grandmother and she is resenting it. All of that changes when she meets the upstairs girl, Melanie, her precocious four-year-old brother, Marshall, and his adorable stuffed octopus, Security. They start out telling stories with Melanie’s elaborate paper families but it soon progresses into playacting when they discover an apparently abandoned back yard. Other people are added to their imaginative play. Imagination time becomes compromised when a real-life murder occurs in a nearby neighborhood and their parents are reluctant to allow them outside.
“Well,” April and Melanie said to each other–only just with a look, not out loud, “wasn’t that like a boy. They got things into a mess and then expected a girl to get them out of it.”
I think this would have been a perfect book for me around age nine. Themes involve friends, differences, imagination and secrets. April’s loss of her home with her mother is one of the themes that weaves through the background, adding a humanizing touch to her and showing the way these issues can be processed in the background and not always need processing out loud. Characters, particularly the three that begin the game, seem reasonably well developed. I particularly love the understated way April and Melanie end up become best friends without needing to label it as such. I also liked the way April’s grandmother, Caroline, was portrayed, an understated background role that gave April a chance to develop in her new home. One of the strengths of the book was the feeling of authenticity in their dialogue. Bonus point for having a cast that represented a variety of ethnicities and family structures.
Plotting was fine. I was intrigued by the section with the oracle, as I wasn’t sure where the story was headed, fantastical or real-world, and I’m not sure the children knew either. Some may say that a murder in a children’s book is inappropriate; I disagree. I think it was handled perfectly well, and the children displayed the same self-centeredness that many children in that age group do when coping with such issues. I did find the wrap-up to be somewhat awkward, however. However, an emotionally satisfying ending.
Many young adult books feel the need to pose children and adults in opposing relationships, it was refreshing to encounter adults who allowed kids to get about the business of being kids. The girls are wrapped up in the world of imagination, although they certainly have moments in school and at home where the real world intrudes. I loved the mention of asking a teacher about oracles and leading her off-track. It reminds me of all the games I and my various playmates concocted; the hours spent prepping, the obsessions with getting something ‘right’ according to some mysterious nine-year-old definition of what ‘right’ was.
“When somebody saves your life, it makes him sort of your property, and nobody was going to make fun … with April around.”
Three-and-a-half stars, rounding up because of Egypt and best friends.
May 16, 2010
I already had a sort of Egypt fixation when this book was read to me for the first time in 3rd grade. But this book took that fixation to a whole new level. For years, I read it over and over again. It...affected me. Because it implied that I wasn't the only dorky, bespectacled youth out there pouring over books about the mummification process (they pulled the brain out through the nose? awesome!), requesting that their mother construct 3D pyramind birthday cakes, and naming the neighbor's stray cat after her favorite female Pharoah (Hatshepsut). Strangely enough, though, not many 10 year olds had any interest in memorizing the hieroglyphic alphabet with me.
June 14, 2016
***Wanda’s Summer Carnival of Children’s Literature***
This book is one of the reasons that I love mysteries so much as an adult! I read it when I was 9 or 10 and I distinctly remember that it scared the pants off me!
It had just the right amount of creepiness for that age—a potentially sinister man whose storage yard that the children choose to play in, a secret club that they have to protect from children who wouldn’t appreciate the intricate Egypt game, and a murderer roaming the town and making adults reluctant to turn their kids loose to play.
Although I was raised in a Christian church, I had a very pagan soul as a little kid and I would have given my eye teeth to have friends who would have acted out Ancient Egyptian rituals with me! Plus, I had a vivid imagination and managed to get myself freaked out while playing other imaginary games with a neighbour girl. As an older child with no siblings to plot & plan with, I lived in my own head a lot and the research & planning of this role-playing would have been heaven for a little nerd like me.
The murders in this story barely made an impression on 10 year old me—I don’t remember that aspect at all. What terrified me was . That made my hair stand on end for several days, even after I knew how the book ended. I treasured the feeling that incredible things were possible.
Highly recommended.
This book is one of the reasons that I love mysteries so much as an adult! I read it when I was 9 or 10 and I distinctly remember that it scared the pants off me!
It had just the right amount of creepiness for that age—a potentially sinister man whose storage yard that the children choose to play in, a secret club that they have to protect from children who wouldn’t appreciate the intricate Egypt game, and a murderer roaming the town and making adults reluctant to turn their kids loose to play.
Although I was raised in a Christian church, I had a very pagan soul as a little kid and I would have given my eye teeth to have friends who would have acted out Ancient Egyptian rituals with me! Plus, I had a vivid imagination and managed to get myself freaked out while playing other imaginary games with a neighbour girl. As an older child with no siblings to plot & plan with, I lived in my own head a lot and the research & planning of this role-playing would have been heaven for a little nerd like me.
The murders in this story barely made an impression on 10 year old me—I don’t remember that aspect at all. What terrified me was . That made my hair stand on end for several days, even after I knew how the book ended. I treasured the feeling that incredible things were possible.
Highly recommended.
July 14, 2020
I don't find the murdering of children a fitting, central topic for children's books. On top of that, it's a sad testament to the state of our current culture that the murderer can't even be recognized as a "bad guy." He is labeled as "mentally sick" and is conveyed as more in need of our sympathy than judgement. As if he was the victim and not the two children he murdered or the third he tries to nab.
The main character, a girl of ten, has no moral compass and leads her friends into all kinds of things. Including pretending they live in ancient Egypt. They play-act sacrificial blood rituals, worship of the gods, and prophesy and receive omens.
And of course, since the book is already dealing with fairly adult issues, why not throw in a dead-beat, Hollywood aspiring mom who dumps her daughter at the grandmother's so she can continue unhindered in her pursuits. Let's expose kids to the emotional trauma of that too, why not!
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! You’ll see my updates as I’m reading and know which books I’m liking and what I’m not finishing and why. You’ll also be able to utilize my library for looking up titles to see whether the book you’re thinking about reading next has any objectionable content or not. From swear words, to romance, to bad attitudes (in children’s books), I cover it all!
The main character, a girl of ten, has no moral compass and leads her friends into all kinds of things. Including pretending they live in ancient Egypt. They play-act sacrificial blood rituals, worship of the gods, and prophesy and receive omens.
And of course, since the book is already dealing with fairly adult issues, why not throw in a dead-beat, Hollywood aspiring mom who dumps her daughter at the grandmother's so she can continue unhindered in her pursuits. Let's expose kids to the emotional trauma of that too, why not!
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! You’ll see my updates as I’m reading and know which books I’m liking and what I’m not finishing and why. You’ll also be able to utilize my library for looking up titles to see whether the book you’re thinking about reading next has any objectionable content or not. From swear words, to romance, to bad attitudes (in children’s books), I cover it all!
February 27, 2018
I loved this as a kid. Zilpha was one of my favorite authors in the 80s. There was John Bellairs, Judy Blume and Zilpha Synder. Back then I couldn't even say her name. Headless Cupid was my favorite book back then. This was another great of hers.
A group of neighborhood children find a building with fun stuff where they come up with a game about Egyptian gods and goddesses. They set up alters and even an oracle. The game gets real when they start getting real answers back. As a kid, I remember this was creepy as hell and I felt so proud to make it through.
I reread it and it was still spooky and charming. I didn't appreciate the diversity growing up with the characters, but Zilpha was rocking back in the 60s. I think I need to read her and John Bellairs. Zilpha did some good stuff and I should read of catalog. Another project.
This is still good mystery, still creepy and still really interesting with all the Egyptian references and history. It's a fun book. I'm glad this got the Newberry.
A group of neighborhood children find a building with fun stuff where they come up with a game about Egyptian gods and goddesses. They set up alters and even an oracle. The game gets real when they start getting real answers back. As a kid, I remember this was creepy as hell and I felt so proud to make it through.
I reread it and it was still spooky and charming. I didn't appreciate the diversity growing up with the characters, but Zilpha was rocking back in the 60s. I think I need to read her and John Bellairs. Zilpha did some good stuff and I should read of catalog. Another project.
This is still good mystery, still creepy and still really interesting with all the Egyptian references and history. It's a fun book. I'm glad this got the Newberry.
September 26, 2019
When I first came across this book in 1975, I was seven years-old and was totally into everything ancient Egypt. I'd seen the King Tut exhibit twice, read everything both fact and fiction about the civilization and was so geeky that I tought myself to write in hieroglyphics (which was fun when it came to passing secret messages). Imagine my delight when the wonderful librarian at my elementary school (I wish I could remember her name because she helped feed my Egypt fix) gave me this book. I literally devoured it overnight and re-read it as many time as I could before it was due. It was the first time I ever considered stealing a library book because I was so in love with it and didn't want to give it back! Luckily I didn't have to since she gave it to me.
It's a rather simple premise really: a bunch of very imaginative kids, most of whom are misfits, get together and create their own ancient Egyptian-styled world, complete with homemade costumes and props scrounged from the junk found in the abandoned back area where they created their "Egypt". There's a creepy old man who runs a thrift-antique store and a murder mystery, and even a dark and stormy night.
Melanie and her brother Marshall (with his stuffed toy octopus), April, Elizabeth, Ken and Toby were the childhood friends I longed for. Melanie was me. Even now, forty-something years later this book feels timeless, even with the anachronistic use of the word "negroes" (which only appears twice in the narrative) to describe Melanie and Marshall who are black. Hey, this was the late 60's and yes, we were called "negro" back then, though "black" and "afro-American" were slowly coming into wider use.
This book was written in 1967 during the turbulent 60's. The struggle for equal rights was in full swing. What made The Egypt Game stand out from so many books at the time was the ethnic diversity of the characters, something the YA genre is woefully behind on even now. When I read about Melanie Ross, it's as if Ms. Snyder had been watching me, this geeky black girl with pigtails as my eyes lit up over color-it-yourself tomb paintings and my cut-out pictures of King Tut's funeral mask from National Geographic. I had a role model and a kindred spirit.
With some books, the diversity aspect is just there or just window dressing. There are authors who throw in an ethnic character or two and have them do nothing throughout the narrative. Ms. Snhyder didn't do that. These were smart kids from diverse backgrounds. They were also kindred spirits in their love of a magnificent ancient culture, and yet they're still kids (although perhaps a little smarter than their peers).
I've always dreamed that someone who loved this book as much I do would make this a movie or a series. On the other hand, considering Hollywood's penchant for fucking up the most beloved of stories (with a few notable exceptions), I'm actually glad they haven't. I could just imagine the entire cast turned into The Last Airbender type fail. Maybe it's best that my beloved and dog-eared The Egypt Game stays the magical book it has always been.
It's a rather simple premise really: a bunch of very imaginative kids, most of whom are misfits, get together and create their own ancient Egyptian-styled world, complete with homemade costumes and props scrounged from the junk found in the abandoned back area where they created their "Egypt". There's a creepy old man who runs a thrift-antique store and a murder mystery, and even a dark and stormy night.
Melanie and her brother Marshall (with his stuffed toy octopus), April, Elizabeth, Ken and Toby were the childhood friends I longed for. Melanie was me. Even now, forty-something years later this book feels timeless, even with the anachronistic use of the word "negroes" (which only appears twice in the narrative) to describe Melanie and Marshall who are black. Hey, this was the late 60's and yes, we were called "negro" back then, though "black" and "afro-American" were slowly coming into wider use.
This book was written in 1967 during the turbulent 60's. The struggle for equal rights was in full swing. What made The Egypt Game stand out from so many books at the time was the ethnic diversity of the characters, something the YA genre is woefully behind on even now. When I read about Melanie Ross, it's as if Ms. Snyder had been watching me, this geeky black girl with pigtails as my eyes lit up over color-it-yourself tomb paintings and my cut-out pictures of King Tut's funeral mask from National Geographic. I had a role model and a kindred spirit.
With some books, the diversity aspect is just there or just window dressing. There are authors who throw in an ethnic character or two and have them do nothing throughout the narrative. Ms. Snhyder didn't do that. These were smart kids from diverse backgrounds. They were also kindred spirits in their love of a magnificent ancient culture, and yet they're still kids (although perhaps a little smarter than their peers).
I've always dreamed that someone who loved this book as much I do would make this a movie or a series. On the other hand, considering Hollywood's penchant for fucking up the most beloved of stories (with a few notable exceptions), I'm actually glad they haven't. I could just imagine the entire cast turned into The Last Airbender type fail. Maybe it's best that my beloved and dog-eared The Egypt Game stays the magical book it has always been.
June 2, 2019
April goes to live with Grandma, her mum has met someone new and is going away for a bit. April finds is it hard being deserted by her mum but gradually with the help of Caroline her Grandmother and making a new friend of Elizabeth who lives in an apartment in her block she begins to enjoy life and not constantly long go go back to Hollywood.
They start a game based on ancient Egypt and soon some others join in. Something bad happens in the neighbourhood and there isn't as much freedom for outdoor play as there was.
There are some wonderful characters in this story, April who likes to show off her glamorous Hollywood background and wear false eyelashes is also intelligent, thoughtful, brave and compassionate. How nice to see some boys who are the class's cool jokers join in and find they really like the imaginative play. A wonderful look at children playing outdoors, imaginative play and play that requires a bit of freedom and some risk.
A happy and climactic ending. If I had read this when I was young I would have been recruiting members for an Egypt group ASAP!
Read on openlibrary
They start a game based on ancient Egypt and soon some others join in. Something bad happens in the neighbourhood and there isn't as much freedom for outdoor play as there was.
There are some wonderful characters in this story, April who likes to show off her glamorous Hollywood background and wear false eyelashes is also intelligent, thoughtful, brave and compassionate. How nice to see some boys who are the class's cool jokers join in and find they really like the imaginative play. A wonderful look at children playing outdoors, imaginative play and play that requires a bit of freedom and some risk.
A happy and climactic ending. If I had read this when I was young I would have been recruiting members for an Egypt group ASAP!
Read on openlibrary
August 3, 2008
A Newbury Honor Book? Really? While this was an interesting story, I found the children to not behave in the manner of actual children - speaking wisely beyond their years and with adult emotions - emotions we might like them to have, but that for the most part, they do not.
Interesting to note that the NY Times Book Review (quoted on the inside cover) says the author "[presents:] contemporary children as they talk and act on their own." Yeah, I don't think so.
The story, whlie interesting, is somewhat choppy. Months are covered by a single line, then many paragraphs describe a walk of a few blocks. Oh, and in the middle there is casually mentioned a child murderer in the neighborhood. A what?! Yeah, that's what I thought too. And then that plot goes away for 1/4 of the novel until returning at the end.
I'd say it's better than many YA novels I've read recently, but it was still uneven.
Interesting to note that the NY Times Book Review (quoted on the inside cover) says the author "[presents:] contemporary children as they talk and act on their own." Yeah, I don't think so.
The story, whlie interesting, is somewhat choppy. Months are covered by a single line, then many paragraphs describe a walk of a few blocks. Oh, and in the middle there is casually mentioned a child murderer in the neighborhood. A what?! Yeah, that's what I thought too. And then that plot goes away for 1/4 of the novel until returning at the end.
I'd say it's better than many YA novels I've read recently, but it was still uneven.
September 1, 2010
There are so many things to like about this extraordinary book that I had somehow missed previously. I'm actually not sure if I had read it completely through before, probably because it is another novel that I consider over-assigned in schools.
'The Egypt Game' also carries the burden of being dated. It was published in 1967 when kids said "neat" a lot more and had to go to the library to find out about ancient Egypt, instead of looking online. No cell phones here. Of course, that could be viewed as a plus.
'Imagination is a great thing in long dull hours, but it’s a real curse in a dark alley…,' Snyder tells us, and those words are the key to a story where a darker reality, one not found in most children's books, lurks in the dusty shadows of a town not unlike Berleley, California.
What you imagine is never senseless. While it can help you escape your troubles, it can't rescue you. What can rescue you are friends and protectors. Paradoxically, imagination can lead you to them. What better theme for a children's novel than the limitations, as well as the saving graces, of imagination.
The protagonist of 'Egypt Game' is a delightfully complex sixth grader, April Hall, willful, stubborn, clever, ready to fight at the slightest of challenges, insecure, vulnerable, and the possessor of a powerful and active imagination, and a high sense of drama. When her mother decides a singing and acting career comes ahead of a daughter, April resentfully goes off to live with her grandmother.
Moving into the Casa Rosada apartment building, though, is the beginning of a close connection with Melanie Ross, the luckiest of friendships for April. Melanie is April's match in intelligence and imagination, and far wiser in social matters. It is her influence that helps April to negotiate a new home, a new neighborhood, and a new school.
April's protectors are found in unlikely places. One turns out to be Melanie's self-assured and laconic little brother, Marshall. Another is located in the same dusty shadows where evil hides.
That is just the beginning of an engaging and expansive cast of characters, of different ages and races. Snyder manages to instill something evocative and real in even the most minor of them, as well as to impart a sense of wonder about ancient Egypt and its mythology that sparked my curiosity, and made 'The Egypt Game' a good companion piece to 'The Red Pyramid.' She also tells a great story.
Highly recommended.
'The Egypt Game' also carries the burden of being dated. It was published in 1967 when kids said "neat" a lot more and had to go to the library to find out about ancient Egypt, instead of looking online. No cell phones here. Of course, that could be viewed as a plus.
'Imagination is a great thing in long dull hours, but it’s a real curse in a dark alley…,' Snyder tells us, and those words are the key to a story where a darker reality, one not found in most children's books, lurks in the dusty shadows of a town not unlike Berleley, California.
What you imagine is never senseless. While it can help you escape your troubles, it can't rescue you. What can rescue you are friends and protectors. Paradoxically, imagination can lead you to them. What better theme for a children's novel than the limitations, as well as the saving graces, of imagination.
The protagonist of 'Egypt Game' is a delightfully complex sixth grader, April Hall, willful, stubborn, clever, ready to fight at the slightest of challenges, insecure, vulnerable, and the possessor of a powerful and active imagination, and a high sense of drama. When her mother decides a singing and acting career comes ahead of a daughter, April resentfully goes off to live with her grandmother.
Moving into the Casa Rosada apartment building, though, is the beginning of a close connection with Melanie Ross, the luckiest of friendships for April. Melanie is April's match in intelligence and imagination, and far wiser in social matters. It is her influence that helps April to negotiate a new home, a new neighborhood, and a new school.
April's protectors are found in unlikely places. One turns out to be Melanie's self-assured and laconic little brother, Marshall. Another is located in the same dusty shadows where evil hides.
That is just the beginning of an engaging and expansive cast of characters, of different ages and races. Snyder manages to instill something evocative and real in even the most minor of them, as well as to impart a sense of wonder about ancient Egypt and its mythology that sparked my curiosity, and made 'The Egypt Game' a good companion piece to 'The Red Pyramid.' She also tells a great story.
Highly recommended.
October 3, 2025
"demonstrations are for things like Peace and Freedom."
― Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Egypt Game
Another great one from childhood. I have to do a reread as details are foggy. I did not love it as much as The Velvet room and The Changeling but it was still a great little book..plus I love books having anything to do with Egypt!
― Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Egypt Game
Another great one from childhood. I have to do a reread as details are foggy. I did not love it as much as The Velvet room and The Changeling but it was still a great little book..plus I love books having anything to do with Egypt!
July 17, 2021
I had forgotten how obsessed I was with Zilpha Keatley Snyder until we came across this book on the Newbery shelf at the bookstore. Then it hit me with such force I couldn't believe I had forgotten. I was obsessed obsessed. I read this book several times as a kid, and also the Stanley family novels. Re-reading this book with my kids I had such a strong recollection of how it used to feel to me when I read it. I remember thinking that if I just read it again I could somehow crack how to make my own Egypt Game, that there was some secret formula I was missing. Clearly it hit me in a deep spot. I was a big imaginer as a kid, and rarely found other kids who were willing to go as deep as I was, especially when we were 10 or even older and such things were not acceptable games anymore. I wanted April and Melanie and all of them to be real and to be my friends. Phew it brought me back.
My kids also really liked this. The chapters are the PERFECT length, and almost all the same length, which as a parent reading a chapter a night is absolutely chef's kiss. I know we've got a good one when they ask to read just one more chapter most of the time. I enjoyed rediscovering and rereading. It taps into the kids' imagination so vividly, centers their points of view entirely, and I liked the prose and the structure a lot.
This is an old novel, it was old when I read it in the late 80's and early 90's. It feels much older now than it did then. To me as a kid just some of the language the kids used felt outdated but everything else was pretty on point. I remembered enjoying how much there is a real threat of danger in Snyder's books, but wow there really is a real threat. A subplot here is a series of child-murders in their area, which is not at all the kind of subplot you run into nowadays, but felt very accurate to the way I perceived the world as a kid in the Stranger Danger era. It didn't seem to bother my kids, and the kids in the book mostly shrug it off as well.
Otherwise, the major issue you'll run into with this as an "old" book is whether the central concept of playing Egypt is a kind of cultural appropriation. Which I can't decide whether it's silly or not. After all, they're kids playing dress-up and pretend and playing Egypt is a whole lot better than playing cowboys or pirates or police all the other pretend games that are actually rooted in some really awful stuff. Snyder's cast of characters are racially mixed, though the two white kids are also the most outspoken ones. There is a bit of typical exoticism that will occasionally show up when Snyder describes Beth, who is Asian-American, it's your garden variety stuff around facial descriptions but I still noted it. And unfortunately Beth is a shy and quiet character who fulfills the Asian girl stereotype and who drifts almost entirely to the background by the end. It's not perfect, but I think it should be acceptable for most parents, which certainly cannot be said for other books of the time. (And hopefully my notes here are helpful to figure out which kind of parent you are.)
My kids also really liked this. The chapters are the PERFECT length, and almost all the same length, which as a parent reading a chapter a night is absolutely chef's kiss. I know we've got a good one when they ask to read just one more chapter most of the time. I enjoyed rediscovering and rereading. It taps into the kids' imagination so vividly, centers their points of view entirely, and I liked the prose and the structure a lot.
This is an old novel, it was old when I read it in the late 80's and early 90's. It feels much older now than it did then. To me as a kid just some of the language the kids used felt outdated but everything else was pretty on point. I remembered enjoying how much there is a real threat of danger in Snyder's books, but wow there really is a real threat. A subplot here is a series of child-murders in their area, which is not at all the kind of subplot you run into nowadays, but felt very accurate to the way I perceived the world as a kid in the Stranger Danger era. It didn't seem to bother my kids, and the kids in the book mostly shrug it off as well.
Otherwise, the major issue you'll run into with this as an "old" book is whether the central concept of playing Egypt is a kind of cultural appropriation. Which I can't decide whether it's silly or not. After all, they're kids playing dress-up and pretend and playing Egypt is a whole lot better than playing cowboys or pirates or police all the other pretend games that are actually rooted in some really awful stuff. Snyder's cast of characters are racially mixed, though the two white kids are also the most outspoken ones. There is a bit of typical exoticism that will occasionally show up when Snyder describes Beth, who is Asian-American, it's your garden variety stuff around facial descriptions but I still noted it. And unfortunately Beth is a shy and quiet character who fulfills the Asian girl stereotype and who drifts almost entirely to the background by the end. It's not perfect, but I think it should be acceptable for most parents, which certainly cannot be said for other books of the time. (And hopefully my notes here are helpful to figure out which kind of parent you are.)
October 11, 2023
Well, I really didn't care for this in the least! Disliked it. First, I am not a fan of YA, or of books featuring middle grade or younger. It also had a dark quality to it that I didn't care for. But here is the good news. Thanks to the Subdue the Shelf Challenge, it is off my TBR!!!! I find it actually really fascinating that I have read like 35 books off my TBR for this challenge and I have liked so few of them. But - they are gone, and hopefully replaced by better. What a lesson learned around my TBR this year.
Next up for Subdue the Shelf is the Rain Heron, thanks to Ursula, our "Train Randomizer." I dare not invoke her by saying anything but positive blessings. But maybe we could ask Ursula to start throwing Theresa a bone or two. Our Founder and Subdue the Shelf Train President has somehow ruffled her feathers. I pray that they come to a more beautiful friendship in these next few months.
Next up for Subdue the Shelf is the Rain Heron, thanks to Ursula, our "Train Randomizer." I dare not invoke her by saying anything but positive blessings. But maybe we could ask Ursula to start throwing Theresa a bone or two. Our Founder and Subdue the Shelf Train President has somehow ruffled her feathers. I pray that they come to a more beautiful friendship in these next few months.
January 18, 2009
This was my banned book for the WBC challenge. I actually found it buried in a box amongst the Baby-sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, A Wrinkle in Time and various other books I collected in my childhood, but I'd never read this one so I decided to pick it up after I saw it listed as a banned book.
It was a cute book about a girl named April, who has come to live with her grandmother whom she hardly knows after her flighty actress mother decides to go on tour sans her 11 year old daughter. Lost and confused in a new place, dramatic and strong willed April forms a somewhat unlikely friendship with her neighbor Melanie and the two bond over a love of making up stories and reading about all things having to do with ancient Egypt.
The two girls and Melanie's younger brother discover a vacant lot behind a curios shop hidden beyond a barbed wire fence that soon becomes "Egypt" to them, a place where their imaginations can run wild and a place of mystery and sacred ceremonies. But the plot thickens when there is a murder in the neighborhood, a couple of pesky boys find out about their secret place and the oracle that they ask questions to actually begins to answer back.
I think that as we grow up, we gradually forget how to "play." My favorite thing about this book was that it made me remember how much fun it was to make up stories and new worlds with friends and act them out.
I also have to share a line that I loved that took me back to my grade school/middle school day: "Ken Kamata and Toby Alvillar were just about the most disgusting boys in the sixth grade, in a fascinating sort of way."
It was a cute book about a girl named April, who has come to live with her grandmother whom she hardly knows after her flighty actress mother decides to go on tour sans her 11 year old daughter. Lost and confused in a new place, dramatic and strong willed April forms a somewhat unlikely friendship with her neighbor Melanie and the two bond over a love of making up stories and reading about all things having to do with ancient Egypt.
The two girls and Melanie's younger brother discover a vacant lot behind a curios shop hidden beyond a barbed wire fence that soon becomes "Egypt" to them, a place where their imaginations can run wild and a place of mystery and sacred ceremonies. But the plot thickens when there is a murder in the neighborhood, a couple of pesky boys find out about their secret place and the oracle that they ask questions to actually begins to answer back.
I think that as we grow up, we gradually forget how to "play." My favorite thing about this book was that it made me remember how much fun it was to make up stories and new worlds with friends and act them out.
I also have to share a line that I loved that took me back to my grade school/middle school day: "Ken Kamata and Toby Alvillar were just about the most disgusting boys in the sixth grade, in a fascinating sort of way."
July 7, 2019
Re-read. I remember playing the same paper doll game that the girls did. Still have them.
**Read for summer reading program — “award winning book”.
**Read for summer reading program — “award winning book”.
September 23, 2015
The Egypt Game is a perfectly fine book for older kids or young adults. It's fun, it moves along nicely, it has an amazingly multicultural cast that isn't belabored, and there are a few real scares in the book. On the other hand, reading it as an adult, it isn't a lot more. It's a very straightforward story, and most of the ending could have been predicted within the first thirty pages, as long as you also looked at the cover. That is not the end of the world. It merely means it's a good, fun book for kids instead of a classic that I can see adults returning to again and again. (Or is it just me who does that?)
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
January 13, 2023
I coined the genre ‘non crime mystery’, to resolve the mislabelling of the books I seek. Naturally, publishers must use it. Some called Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s work fantasy. She wrote about secrets children bring to light. My introduction was “The Truth About Stone Hollow”, 1974. Weak, countrified grammar was distancing to me. However, except spending awhile on family drama, I liked it and gave it 4 stars.
“The Egypt Game” is 7 years older but infinitely more relatable and modern. City apartment blocks in Canada of the late 1970s were my playground and our move to suburbia in the 1980s was similar. We told our parents where and with whom we were and we could frolic nearby until dusk. I remember the threat of predators the novel conveyed. We were taught to be on hyper alert and watch our siblings. However, the freedom to run outside and creatively play was important.
Like most people, I took this title for magic, or a trip to Egypt but admired it as soon as I recognized what it is: an authentic tableau of 1967 city children. Simply by writing the way things were, all races and incomes of children were friends together. Even two curious jocks delight in a private place to be inventive and command their own world. This part, about discarding school images and allowing themselves to be children together, is the most beautiful element. It reminds me a bit of “The Breakfast Club” film. If kids just go outside and make up ways to play with material available to them, it will be fun.
A mysterious atmosphere comes from the curio store owner of their scrap yard. Also, the oracle the children made-up.... should not be capable of answering them! My appreciation of this gem is valued at 5 stars.
“The Egypt Game” is 7 years older but infinitely more relatable and modern. City apartment blocks in Canada of the late 1970s were my playground and our move to suburbia in the 1980s was similar. We told our parents where and with whom we were and we could frolic nearby until dusk. I remember the threat of predators the novel conveyed. We were taught to be on hyper alert and watch our siblings. However, the freedom to run outside and creatively play was important.
Like most people, I took this title for magic, or a trip to Egypt but admired it as soon as I recognized what it is: an authentic tableau of 1967 city children. Simply by writing the way things were, all races and incomes of children were friends together. Even two curious jocks delight in a private place to be inventive and command their own world. This part, about discarding school images and allowing themselves to be children together, is the most beautiful element. It reminds me a bit of “The Breakfast Club” film. If kids just go outside and make up ways to play with material available to them, it will be fun.
A mysterious atmosphere comes from the curio store owner of their scrap yard. Also, the oracle the children made-up.... should not be capable of answering them! My appreciation of this gem is valued at 5 stars.
February 29, 2012
I loved this book as a kid. I recently learned there's a sequel, so I decided to re-read the Egypt Game before I read the sequel. I was worried that it wouldn't hold up to my childhood memories. I was especially concerned that the way the kids treat different cultures might come across as flat or awkward or, frankly, xenophobic or bigoted. I'm a lot more sensitive about that stuff these days. I won't champion this book as a bastion of cultural diversity, but I think it was okay / good enough in that regard. And the group of kids themselves are pretty diverse, right?
Anyway, things I love about this book:
1. the way it gives space for kids to be kids and figure out how you are growing up. i remember these feelings so strongly, being small and wondering about how you can learn to be big.
2. the power of imagination play.
3. how important rituals and mystery are, even/especially the ones you make up yourself.
4. egyptology, man.
5. the power of secret places!
6. the references to peace, freedom, equality and justice. kids need to hear that shit like it is everyday-worth-talking-about and it gives this book such a good 1960s California feel.
7. the kid friendships in this book are so good.
8. the kid-adult relationships in this book are also good!
I'm so glad I re-read it. I think the magic survived the test of time.
Anyway, things I love about this book:
1. the way it gives space for kids to be kids and figure out how you are growing up. i remember these feelings so strongly, being small and wondering about how you can learn to be big.
2. the power of imagination play.
3. how important rituals and mystery are, even/especially the ones you make up yourself.
4. egyptology, man.
5. the power of secret places!
6. the references to peace, freedom, equality and justice. kids need to hear that shit like it is everyday-worth-talking-about and it gives this book such a good 1960s California feel.
7. the kid friendships in this book are so good.
8. the kid-adult relationships in this book are also good!
I'm so glad I re-read it. I think the magic survived the test of time.
October 3, 2017
It's nice when a childhood favourite holds up decades later. I read this book several times in elementary school when it first came out, and when I started seventh grade I was thrilled to see a huge section of books on Egypt in the highschool library. I proceeded to read a lot of them!
Coming back to this book 4 decades later, I noticed a whole plot thread that had zipped over my innocent little head back then. How did I miss the whole serial-child-killer scare that keeps the kids indoors for weeks? Maybe I was more caught up in their imagination games. In a time when two year olds can handle their parents' tablets and smartphones to watch cartoons or play Angry Birds, I wonder if today's kids could create their own worlds like this, with only an empty lot to play in. No, I'm not being snarky; I'm curious. Snyder repeats a motif from many of her books: the desire of children to have a secret hideout where they can be by themselves with no interference, and play imagining games. I just learned this book is banned in several places. And yet they let their kids watch TV or go online and find much worse stuff.
It was interesting how the kids created their own ceremonies etc. I bet that's how the original Egyptians got started, on a different level. "Oh, the rains haven't come...what can we do?" "Let's try this." "No--THIS." "Cool! Yeah, let's try that."
Coming back to this book 4 decades later, I noticed a whole plot thread that had zipped over my innocent little head back then. How did I miss the whole serial-child-killer scare that keeps the kids indoors for weeks? Maybe I was more caught up in their imagination games. In a time when two year olds can handle their parents' tablets and smartphones to watch cartoons or play Angry Birds, I wonder if today's kids could create their own worlds like this, with only an empty lot to play in. No, I'm not being snarky; I'm curious. Snyder repeats a motif from many of her books: the desire of children to have a secret hideout where they can be by themselves with no interference, and play imagining games. I just learned this book is banned in several places. And yet they let their kids watch TV or go online and find much worse stuff.
It was interesting how the kids created their own ceremonies etc. I bet that's how the original Egyptians got started, on a different level. "Oh, the rains haven't come...what can we do?" "Let's try this." "No--THIS." "Cool! Yeah, let's try that."
February 1, 2018
This is another Newberry Honor book that my son and I are reading together. I enjoyed it and thought it was a fun story. It starts out with two girls and their little 4 year old brother that love "Egyptology" so they create their own imaginative game to play in secret. As they bring new kids with new ideas, into their club including even a couple of boys, The Egypt Game evolves and takes on a life of its own.
The book highlights that its ok for kids of different races to intermix; that boys and girls can also learn and have fun together at the same time without being ridiculed; and that you shouldn't judge people that you don't know, based on rumors, hearsay, looks etc.
My son hasn't finished reading yet so I don't have his thoughts on the book yet but I'll update later...
The book highlights that its ok for kids of different races to intermix; that boys and girls can also learn and have fun together at the same time without being ridiculed; and that you shouldn't judge people that you don't know, based on rumors, hearsay, looks etc.
My son hasn't finished reading yet so I don't have his thoughts on the book yet but I'll update later...
September 27, 2020
Zilpha Keatley Snyder is a master of mood, as anyone who's read the evocative and sharp The Witches of Worm can tell you. The Egypt Game has mood going for it in spades; it's just not clear to me what else it has, I'm afraid. This book is a very slow burn, building on its mood gradually to... a not-particularly exciting climax, involving a barely mentioned antagonist with an identity we can't possibly anticipate as readers. It doesn't help that the resolution to a particular mystery is effectively given away in the first few chapters . It's also guilty of my constant complaint, TME - too much epilogue. So why 3 out of 5? Because the characters are beautifully sketched, even those who don't get much screen time, and the story is so believable. The Egypt Game, itself, is so true to life, and so true to kids, and that's true of the book in general - I recognize these kids, they're believable and real, and the book does such a wonderful job of capturing the excitement of being a child and getting away with something. And it captures the main characters pain at being a discarded child with both sting and grace. It's worth reading for no other reason than for April and her friends and their bond together.
September 15, 2021
I was happy with this book. Zilpha Keatley Snyder shows herself to be a writer of the first rank, meting out humor, suspense, and some genuine drama at a nicely maintained pace. The Egypt Game rings with kid-friendly dialogue and characters, effectively camouflaging the author's presence. A good story often seems as though it wasn't written at all, but actually happened, magically appearing on the page as the events occurred. The Egypt Game is one such book.
I enjoyed this novel, and would recommend it with a solid two and a half stars.
I enjoyed this novel, and would recommend it with a solid two and a half stars.
December 11, 2010
Let's get something straight. If you're going to publish a book for the public, in order for it to get a good rating, the reader needs to be grabbed with suspense or there needs to be some commotion in the story. Well, this book was the complete opposite. The first chapter was a little suspenseful, but after that it was just plain, ordinary, life. I wish I didn't waste all of my story time with this book. There are millions of better books out there, and I don't recommend this one to anybody.
April 8, 2018
one of my favorite books of all time. i reread this religiously as a kid. recommended to anyone with a good imagination who's ever found solace in his or her fellow outcasts.
May 25, 2019
A few years ago I undertook to read Zilpha Keatley Snyder's entire body of work, motivated in part by the fact that although she is an extraordinarily talented and prolific author, I had only read two of her books as a child. One of these was
The Changeling
, a book that has relentlessly haunted me from the time I first read it. This was the other.
Snyder's fourth book - which won a Newbery Honor - follows the story of two young girls, April and Melanie, whose unlikely friendship leads to the revelation that they are both fascinated by ancient Egypt, and to the creation of "the Egypt Game." Soon they are joined by other children, and the game begins to take on a life of its own. When eerie things begin to happen, the friends find themselves wondering if it is a game at all...
I can remember racing through this novel as a child, completely ensnared by Snyder's suspenseful plot; hoping, in fact, for a more supernatural explanation than the one eventually given. I could not have articulated then just why this book (and The Changeling ) exercised such a powerful effect upon me. Reading as an adult however, I recognize Snyder's keen understanding of the role of the imagination in the lives of children - the games they create, the "daydreams" that give meaning to their lives. She understands the power of the child's inner life, and is never condescending towards "childish" things. I think I must also have found it refreshing to read a story with such a matter-of-fact interracial friendship, in which race itself was not the predominant concern.
Like many of Snyder's early novels, The Egypt Game is illustrated by Alton Raible.
Snyder's fourth book - which won a Newbery Honor - follows the story of two young girls, April and Melanie, whose unlikely friendship leads to the revelation that they are both fascinated by ancient Egypt, and to the creation of "the Egypt Game." Soon they are joined by other children, and the game begins to take on a life of its own. When eerie things begin to happen, the friends find themselves wondering if it is a game at all...
I can remember racing through this novel as a child, completely ensnared by Snyder's suspenseful plot; hoping, in fact, for a more supernatural explanation than the one eventually given. I could not have articulated then just why this book (and The Changeling ) exercised such a powerful effect upon me. Reading as an adult however, I recognize Snyder's keen understanding of the role of the imagination in the lives of children - the games they create, the "daydreams" that give meaning to their lives. She understands the power of the child's inner life, and is never condescending towards "childish" things. I think I must also have found it refreshing to read a story with such a matter-of-fact interracial friendship, in which race itself was not the predominant concern.
Like many of Snyder's early novels, The Egypt Game is illustrated by Alton Raible.
November 28, 2007
>>> WARNING, SPOILER ! <<< *I think
This book really has a mixture of fun, sad and scary things ! When I started reading it, which was on my summer vacations, I liked it so much, I couldn't stop reading it. I think I read it in two days. It's so fantastic, how April, Melanie, Marshal, and then Elizabeth, and the two boys Toby and Ken create a society, which grows and grows. This book felt so magic. I spent like 15 min. laughing about Marshall, one of the biggest characters, when he says "Let's kill April". It's magic how the author can combine styles and topics, and make an "epic" book, counting that the kid's society was about Ancient Egypt, which really interests me. It's great how the author makes such a mysterious character called "The Professor" by the kids, and then he presents his character as a mature adult that has a truly sad story, but he learns how to go in front by watching little kids play such a beautiful and creative game. I also loved the end, when April, my favorite character asks Melanie, who is also such a great character, if she wants to learn about something else. I just love this book, and I gave it 5 stars because it's the best book I've ever read.
This book really has a mixture of fun, sad and scary things ! When I started reading it, which was on my summer vacations, I liked it so much, I couldn't stop reading it. I think I read it in two days. It's so fantastic, how April, Melanie, Marshal, and then Elizabeth, and the two boys Toby and Ken create a society, which grows and grows. This book felt so magic. I spent like 15 min. laughing about Marshall, one of the biggest characters, when he says "Let's kill April". It's magic how the author can combine styles and topics, and make an "epic" book, counting that the kid's society was about Ancient Egypt, which really interests me. It's great how the author makes such a mysterious character called "The Professor" by the kids, and then he presents his character as a mature adult that has a truly sad story, but he learns how to go in front by watching little kids play such a beautiful and creative game. I also loved the end, when April, my favorite character asks Melanie, who is also such a great character, if she wants to learn about something else. I just love this book, and I gave it 5 stars because it's the best book I've ever read.
December 11, 2007
Great book! So many layers - family issues, friendships, imagination, social issues, and creepy suspense. April was such a great character, reacting to feeling abandoned by her mother with her creative use of false eyelashes. Thank goodness Melanie was her friend, and didn't let April wear those eyelashes to school!
I love all the details about the game, with everyone using their imaginations to recreate an Egyptian temple and all the rituals. All the relationships between the kids are so funny and true. According to the forward in the new paperback edition, Snyder based all the characters on real kids she knew when she was working as a teacher, and it shows in how well all the characters are depicted. I love this book!
I love all the details about the game, with everyone using their imaginations to recreate an Egyptian temple and all the rituals. All the relationships between the kids are so funny and true. According to the forward in the new paperback edition, Snyder based all the characters on real kids she knew when she was working as a teacher, and it shows in how well all the characters are depicted. I love this book!
September 15, 2021
I read this children’s classic soon after it was published when I was still a child. (Yes, I’m old!) I’m amazed at how much I had forgotten about this book that I adored. Or maybe, as I was 11 or 12, I missed a lot. Like any children’s classic, adults will love this novel on two unlikely friends, one of whom is a child cast off by her Hollywood starlet-wannabe mom. The Egypt Game serves both as an intriguing mystery novel and a reminder that “imagining games” have always been the best kind. The end is a total shocker!
Whether you read it as a child or not, adult readers will want to pick up this gem. And if you get the chance to listen to the audiobook edition with narrator Alyssa Bresnahan, so much the better. Highly, highly recommended.
Whether you read it as a child or not, adult readers will want to pick up this gem. And if you get the chance to listen to the audiobook edition with narrator Alyssa Bresnahan, so much the better. Highly, highly recommended.
February 17, 2017
This was *too scary* for the age group it targets. In fact, it was too scary for *me*! I just don't see CHILD MURDER as being a wise choice of a central plot point in a book meant for elementary school kids.
November 15, 2014
This book brought back to me all the games I played in my youth. I practically belonged inside this book. It was good to remember how great your imagination is as a child.
December 5, 2015
*3.75 stars*
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