Cleopatra: The Queen of Kings

by Fiona Macdonald, Chris Molan (Illustrator)

Witness the life of a powerful Egyptian ruler. Vivid storytelling brings the past to life. Exciting eyewitness accounts make you feel like part of the action. Stunning photographs, annotated illustrations, and exploded views help you piece together the story. A gatefold page opens out to show a panoramic view of the scene.

Genres: History, Biography

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Fiona Macdonald studied history at Cambridge University and at the University of East Anglia. She has taught in schools, adult education and university, and is the author of numerous books for children on historical topics.

Reviews

[MischaS_]

Ah, this one is full of memories for me, and it was a sweet re-read. I don't even know how many times I've read this one. I used to lay all the time in this book.
I still like it but now being older I can see that it is very brief and many important things are missing from this book.
But hey, still love it, and while reading it, I can remember my obsession with Cleopatra. I even wanted to be an archaeologist, and I dreamed about finding Cleopatra's Tomb. I, unfortunately, did not go that way but still. This book holds an important part of my childhood.


Co na me z te knihovny nevypadne? Doslova...
Tohle jsem mohla číst, tak 50x. Pořád jsem schopná ji odříkát. :)

[Dinh Hong]

Short, brief interesting to know about legend Cleopatra.

[Kara]

A great introduction to the "Queen of Kings" for younger readers, covering quite a lot of information about Cleopatra, her family, Egypt, Rome, their cultures and peoples, and what it all means in context.

[Katherine]

"Throughout history, people have often refused to take women seriously."

Not a DK Kids book speaking the truth like that.

Cleopatra VII was not only the last ruler of the Egyptian empire, but most would also argue she was the most famous. Forget King Tut and his tomb. Cleopatra lived a life more extravagant, opulent, and drama filled than a 1980s soap opera. However, that same drama overshadows the fact that Cleopatra was intelligent, savvy, and completely in tune with the politics of ruling one of the oldest empires in human history. Most people remember her for her romances with Julius Casear and Marc Anthony and her great beauty, and the ruler and woman she actually was becomes lost in the shuffle. Granted, we don't know a whole lot about her personally, but she was so much more than the men she loved and the myths and tall tales that writers wrote about her, writers that disliked her to begin with. In this book for junior historians, DK brings Cleopatra back to life and celebrates not only the ruler that she was, but the woman as well.

If you are of a certain age, you probably vividly remember the DK brand. It was brand of nonfiction books and media that seemed to be in every school library in the US. You knew it was going to be a great day when the teacher pulled out the media cart and put in an Eyewitness DVD for the class to watch. The theme tune is timeless and lives rent free in my head. I collected and read quite a few DK books when I was a kid, particularly since history was my favorite subject as a child.

This was definitely more of a childhood nostalgic read for me. I owned it as a kid but subsequently donated it. However, when I saw this in the thrift store for 50 cents, I couldn't pass it up. I particularly remember the vivid illustrations in this one, and it was a fun trip down memory lane for me.

I would say this is a good first book for kids to read when being introduced to Cleopatra. I felt the author did a good job separating the fact from the fiction regarding her life (except for the part about her being gorgeous. I love my girl Cleopatra, but she was not renowned for her beauty; more so her intelligence.) The book highlighted her success and failures as being a queen, ruler, and human being. They didn't shy away from the bad parts about her, and it also gives young readers a glimpse as to how not only Cleopatra would have lived back then, but her subjects as well. It paints a whole, distinct portrait of Cleopatra, the last ruler of Egypt and one of the most iconic female rulers of all time.

I can't say this book blew me away. Being much older and having read many more books than I did when I was a kid, this was not a five-star biography of Cleopatra for me. However, every young historian has to start somewhere, and DK is always a good starting point. Their penchant for accuracy and simplistic writing style makes this book and easy and understandable read and is a good book to give those young readers who love history, learning about the past, and celebrating the life and achievements of one of the most mysterious, misunderstood, and intelligent rulers of the ancient world.

I can only hope one day that history will someday take women seriously.

[Reeby]

Cleopatra is a simple yet interesting synopsis of the life of the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII. With beautiful illustrations and plenty of historical information, this book is an interesting and fairly thorough read for any age.

I enjoyed this book and even learned a few things that I hadn't in other books about Cleopatra, especially regarding the history of Egypt and her family before she became queen. I'd recommend to anyone who's looking for a quick historical, but not boring, book.

[Zahraa]

I didn’t even red it

[Jbondandrews]

Didn't help at times the drawings of Cleopatra resembled Elizabeth Taylor.

[Jude]

Gracias a este libro, comenzó mi amor por el Antiguo Egipto; era mi libro favorito cuando era pequeña