Egyptian Diary: The Journal of Nakht

The Diary Series

by Richard Platt, David Parkins (Illustrator)

Who is plundering the tombs of ancient Memphis? A brother and sister solve the mystery in this diary full of intriguing details about daily life in Egypt 3,500 years ago.

What was it like to be an aspiring young scribe in Egypt, circa 1500 BC? Picture it through the eyes of nine-year-old Nakht, who has just moved with his family to bustling Memphis, where his father has a prestigious new job. As Nakht takes up his own (often boring) lessons, little does he know that he and his sister, Tamyt, will soon stumble upon a sinister plot involving the robbing of nearby tombs — and will actually catch the high-ranking mastermind at a banquet inside their own house! As a reward, the siblings are invited to the royal palace in Thebes to meet none other than King Hatshepsut, whom they are shocked to discover is a woman — one of few female kings in ancient Egyptian history. Brimming with lively, detailed illustrations and bolstered with endnotes, a timeline, and a glossary, this newest tale from the author of CASTLE DIARY and PIRATE DIARY is sure to stir readers' interest in one of the most fascinating eras in history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Egypt, Ancient History, Africa, Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

64 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2005

About the author

(1953–)

Richard Platt is the author of more than sixty informative books for young readers, and he also writes for innovative multimedia projects. Some of his most popular works have been collaborations with illustrator Stephen Biesty on the "Cross-Sections" series. After a failed attempt to forge a career as a photographer, Platt discovered that he had a knack for writing. "I started writing about photography: first magazine articles, then books," he explained on the Walker Books Web site. "I got a job editing children's books, then went on to write them."

In the 1990s, Platt teamed up with popular juvenile illustrator Biesty for several books, beginning with Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections Book, published in 1992. The following year, a second volume in the series, Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections Man-of-War, proved equally interesting for late-elementary-age readers, especially those enchanted by seventeenth-century battleships. Alongside Biesty's cutaway illustrations, Platt provides explanatory text that indicates the purpose and activities in each section of the ship. The hardships of life aboard such vessels for their often 800-member crews are not overlooked, either, and the drawings depict food rations crawling with maggots and a doctor's pail containing severed limbs. Ellen Mandel, writing for Booklist, asserted that Platt's "intriguing text" serves to make "this meticulously presented book a treasure of factual content and visual imagery."

For Stephen Biesty's Incredible Everything, Platt provides informative paragraphs to accompany the illustrations for many everyday products, such as athletic shoes and compact discs. Much of the text revolves around the manufacturing process. Stephen Biesty's Incredible Body is a lesson in human anatomy, with sections on each of the body's systems and several major organs; the digestive system alone takes up four pages. Platt has also worked with the illustrator on Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections Castle and Stephen Biesty's Incredible Explosions.

Working with publisher Dorling Kindersley, Platt has authored several titles in their "Eyewitness" series, some of which have appeared in the United States under the Knopf/Borzoi imprint. Pirate details the world of corsairs, privateers, and crime on the high seas throughout history. A reviewer for Science Books and Films, Richard B. Woodbury, praised the work as "a veritable miniencyclopedia or minimuseum" and "a pleasure to look at." Spy chronicles the history of espionage and the decisive role intelligence-gathering triumphs have played in history. Of particular emphasis are the code-breaking endeavors by Allied intelligence networks during World War II. Shipwreck, also part of the "Eyewitness" series, investigates famous sea disasters and rescues. Like the other books in the popular series, Shipwreck is lavishly illustrated. Chris Stephenson, writing in School Librarian, called it "an excellent source of historical evidence and nautical information."

Platt has also written several books about inventions. His The Smithsonian Visual Timeline of Inventions, which appeared in 1994, won praise from reviewers for its comprehensiveness. Platt divides the development of technology throughout the ages into five sections, including agriculture, conquest, and communication. The timeline begins at 600,000 BCE, around the time humans likely began using fire, and includes predictions for innovations that may occur in the near future. Cathryn A. Camper, reviewing The Smithsonian Visual Timeline of Inventions for School Library Journal, praised Platt's skilled use of illustration and text, which the critic felt "teaches a sophisticated form of literacy similar to" that provided with multimedia learning tools—an area in which Platt already had a great deal of writing experience. "Readers will delight in the colorful pictures and the text, which gives just enough information to satisfy curiosity," opined Voice of Youth Advo

Reviews

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a boy of Scribe class, in Ancient Egypt in the times of Hatchepsut. The story is written as his diary; he moves with his family up to Memphis and start proper scribe school there, with travels with his father at his work in the afternoons. Some excitement into the story is brought by the grave robbers-mystery, which is quite exciting to read even as an adult.

Within the diary we also get to learn about everyday things like funerals, animal incidents (with crocodiles, hippos and ducks), visiting a temple, watching people in the fields (harvesting, watering), workshops and house-buidling. At the end is short information about Rosetta Stone, Egyptian society and its gods, and death rituals (pyramid burial had stopped about 200 before our main character's time). Some further reading suggestions are also given.

This book is great continuation in author's history series, though my copy was a smaller-sized version; the pictures were too (and in black and white), so this means it's perhaps better for children who don't need so much to see pictures, and in bigish size. The story is short but still long enough, and nicely quick read for me between longer reads. Great for kids, but also for adults.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening in 1465 BC, in the eighth year of King Hatshepsut's reign, this engaging work of picture-book historical fiction follows the story of Nakht, the son of an ancient Egyptian scribe. Presented in diary format, the book follows Nakht and his family - mother and father, sister Tamyt, faithful servants, and feline companion Myt - as they move from the small town of Esna to the bustling city of Memphis. Here Nakht's father works as a scribe, while Nakht himself attends scribal school. In addition to all of the day-to-day events of their lives, Nakht and Tamyt play a role in capturing a ring of tomb robbers, and win an audience before the king herself...

One of four such historical picture-book diaries from Platt - the others include Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess , Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter and Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini: Captured and Sold as a Slave in Rome - AD 107 - Egyptian Diary: The Journal of Nakht is both entertaining and educational, presenting a child's-eye view of life in ancient Egypt, and exploring everything from the duties of various kinds of scribes and officials to the ways in which food was prepared and the afterlife was viewed. I'm on something of an Ancient Egypt kick at the moment, and have been tracking down various children's book about the subject. This was an engaging addition to my shelf, and featured some fascinating information, an engrossing storyline, and appealing watercolor illustrations from David Parkins. I appreciated the mix of fictional and non-fictional elements, and think this title would work very well as a supplement in a study-unit on Ancient Egypt. For my own part, I enjoyed it enough that I plan to track down the other titles, mentioned above. Recommended to children who enjoy historical fiction and/or are fascinated by Ancient Egypt. It's a picture-book, but very text-heavy, so I'd say it would work best for middle-grade readers, or for younger children with a good attention span, when listening to read-alouds.

[Lauren R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids were absolutely engrossed. If you read one book about Ancient Egypt to your family, this should be highly considered. Fascinating look at “day-to-day” life from the POV of a young boy learning to be a scribe.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in Egyptian Diary are wonderfully detailed and make the setting come alive, especially in the full-page artwork. The story itself becomes a pretty low-level mystery, and is fairly forgettable. Expanding this story into the format of a longer chapter book would make it far more satisfying, but it's perfectly fine for younger kids who want to learn a bit about Ancient Egypt as it might have been lived by someone their own age.

[Laura (Book Scrounger) · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of information about ancient Egypt packed into this short book, and it's not too difficult of a read either. There wasn't a lot of plot to it, and the tomb robber thing seemed a bit hokey, but it's still a nice way to engage your imagination about what Egyptian life was like.

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book recommended on a homeschool website, but I don’t understand why they liked it. The pictures are grotesque and the text is boring. It’s going straight back to the library.

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Это огонь! Прочитала сама, теперь читаем с дочерью. На 5-9 лет отличный подарок.

[Mindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review from my daughter: i love this book because of how creative he is and how the author described it it made me learn a lot more about Egypt!

[Jewely Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical fiction text landed on my favorites shelf for the structure and surprising relatability for children. The book is set in the year 1465 BC and follows the journey of a boy named Nakht whose father recently got a new job as an Egyptian scroll which requires Nakht and his family to relocate. Nakht writes in his journal throughout this new transition that results in a 56-page story delivering historically accurate descriptions of Ancient Egypt civilization – focusing on the areas around the banks of the Nile river. Children can relate and connect to Nakht’s struggles and excitement. For example, Nakht writes about his too-cool older sister, his distress saying goodbye to his friends, begging his father to accompany him on ventures to new places, and attending school. The story is structured so that each page has a new adventure title and typically more than one journal entry as well as illustrations throughout. As a result of the length and the structure this text would likely be read over multiple days depending on the reader. This story would also likely not be a great fit for grades younger than second.

This text has a variety of uses within reading instruction. First, the journal entries have a vast number of descriptive vocabulary terms that could be utilized in a vocabulary lesson (i.e., steep, barter, stench, scarce, thrust, etc.). The story also exposes students to a unique genre of historical fiction journals. The journal entries additionally offer fabulous developments in characters, specifically Nakht, which could be recorded on a timeline in a reading comprehension lesson. Finally, at the end of the book there is a section called ‘notes for the reader’ which gives maps, timelines, and facts about the time Nakht’s character lived. This section could be used to provide instruction about text features.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this to my 3rd grader. We are also reading The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan as a family with my middle school boys included. Third grader is learning about ancient civilizations at school, so I thought both books would be fascinating to him. I was wrong. Egyptian Diaries bored us to tears. Both books teach history, but Riordan gives an interesting plot to go with the history. The “plot” in Egyptian Diaries was so, so bland. Nothing exciting whatsoever! 2 stars, however, because kids are likely to learn something about ancient Egyptian way of life.

[Kate Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

We read this for our homeschool studies of Ancient Egypt and I found the diary format it was written in to be VERY DULL. I think the story would have flowed better if it were narrated differently. It felt very repetitive and it droned on and on without much action. I did appreciate the historical points it illustrated, BUT there are far more entertaining ways to learn these facts. If I had known how dull the book would be I would have skipped it entirely because I don’t feel it added much to our curriculum.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess there are 2 versions of this book. We checked out the hardcover version and I loved it! The chapters are a few pages each and are covered with colorful illustrations that match what is going on in each journal entry. We had fun discussing differences in the main characters life and ours and even how he is similar/different to the other people in the story.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read aloud to go along with our study of ancient Egypt. My kids really enjoyed both the diary and the information at the end of the book. The information was accurate and really made us feel like we were back in those times, experiencing his life. Just enough illustrations to add to the story. We will check out Roman Diary when we start studying the Romans.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love this book as we started reading it aloud for our Ancient History study. But, as the book continued and there was a bit more of a plot-line, I started to appreciate the educational value of the book a bit more. That being said, I'm glad we were able to get it from the library as this is definitely not a book I think we'll be returning to.

[Ian Kieper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to do a school project on this....but it is hard because my arms are tired. But, Egypt is a sandy place from about 2 million years ago. Also, Shamsi-Adad is cruel. Now, Hammurabi is the nice one.

[Nikki C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Quick Read-Aloud

Read this in my one-room homeschool to pair with our history curriculum of choice. Great modern insight into everyday life in Ancient Egypt that isn't too fact-heavy and written in a wonderfully narrative style.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright! Not fantastic or incredibly captivating for my 6 year old, but she still enjoyed it as a read aloud while studying ancient Egypt. It was a good story for our homeschool that provided insight into what a child’s life might have looked like in ancient Egypt.

[The Unschoolers · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't bad- O enjoyed at first. But I think doing an Egypt study in subsequent years I'll use Magic Treehouse Mummies, Magic Treehouse Egypt Facts, and History Smashers: Ancient Egypt(maybe, depending on ages) instead. This one just really wasn't that great as a read aloud.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read to Connor

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't amused by the format. A nine-year-old would not be writing like this and they made no effort to equalize it as they crammed information from everywhere they could.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into the life of a scribe in ancient Egypt. The back of the book includes a lot of helpful historical information that my daughter enjoyed.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read aloud for my 3/4 students studying ancient Egypt

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exciting peek into an Egyptian boy's early years. An engaging way to learn history.

[Amy Trujillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

a day in the life

This is a good story of what life is like for a student in Egypt. This pairs well with Mummies in the Morning.

[Nikki Heald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to my kids alongside our study of Ancient Egypt. It helped flesh out the geography and day to day life of Ancient Egypt. The story itself isn't very compelling.

[Barbara Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual picture book in size and scope. I read the paperback version, written in large print and generous in its approximately 10 X 13 inch size. This book is written in first person diary format. Nakt is a nine year old boy living in the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut in ancient Egypt. His father has just been given a promotion in the city of Memphis. Nakt writes in his diary about his adventure, including lots of details about daily life in Egypt, cultural mores, religion, farming, hunting, and craftsmen. The plot takes a dramatic turn when Nakt and his sister, Tamyt discover a tomb robber conspiracy which will take them to the city of Thebes and land them in the court of the palace of Hatshepsut. They are astonished to discover that the Pharaoh is a woman.

Illustrated with beautiful color drawings by Parkins, the reader is transported back 3,500 years. These drawings are beautifully done; the expressions of the faces are somewhat exaggerated to display characters' emotions. The author provides an extensive appendix which includes notes about geography, society, religion, the pyramids and archaeology.

Targeted for children in grades four through seven, the large pictures might even draw the attention of children slightly younger. Generally recommended for children in the eight to twelve year old range. Anyone interested in ancient Egyptian history will delight in this book. Great choice for homeschooling parents as a fine introduction to the study of this topic.

[ErikaR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a 9 year old boy, named Nakht. In his diary he describes the events and adventures that he lived in the city of Memphis, in Egypt, in the year 1465 B.C. His father is a scribe and Nakht is taking classes to become a scribe as well. Nakht is a playful and daring boy who likes to investigate his surroundings. His curiosity and playfulness take him to the discovery of a loot in one of tombs where he and his sister Tamyt were taking shelter from a storm. The journal, more than unfolding the mystery of how Nakht discovers the robbers of the tombs, is richer in describing Nakht’s life learning experiences with his new friends and of course his sister. The book contains colorful and detailed illustrations of Nakht’s adventures. Kids in 3rd to 5th grade may enjoy this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nicely done piece of historical fiction for the very young. This is the kind of book that could spark an interest in history, archaeology, Egyptology, or even illustration in a child. The text is easily read and understood, the narrative (and back matter) is informative, the plot consistently entertains, and the artwork is outstanding. I have only a couple quibbles, and they're of such a trivial nature I refuse to allow them more space in this review. Had I read this book when I was a wee lass, my obsession with history and archaeology would have started a decade earlier. (Note: There are three other books in this series -- on Rome, castles, and pirates.)

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar to the Pirate Diary, the Egyptian Diary chronicles the life of a young boy who is studying to be a scribe like his father. Lots of interesting details about ancient Egyptian life - like farmers irrigation systems, making bricks with straw, and the lengthy process of grinding wheat to make bread.

[Lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this in the children's library. I love ancient Egyptian history, so I brought it home. It's a charmingly illustrated quick-read, rich in information, that was enjoyable for both my kids and for me. The back of the book offers further cultural information and a timeline, as well as a glossary and index.

It has put me in the mood to find novels set in ancient Egypt. =)