Code Quest: Hieroglyphs - Solve the Mystery from Ancient Egypt - Hardcover

Callery, Sean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 075346411X ISBN 13: 9780753464113

Publisher: Kingfisher, 2010

Synopsis

CodeQuest is a brand-new narrative non-fiction series that challenges the reader to solve historical mysteries. Each title presents a unique, interactive story in which the reader learns about historical codes, pictograms and symbols by completing various code-breaking tasks.
A museum houses a splendid statue of a golden cat. It was once part of a pair... so where isits partner? A note inside the display case contains the first in a series of clues, and once it is deciphered, the adventure begins. The story spreads lead the reader from clue to clue, while information spreads form a perfect introduction to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics

About this title

About the Author

Sean Callery is a writer and an elementary school teacher. He has written a number of information books for children, including I Wonder Why There's a Hole in the Sky.

Reviews

Gr 3-7–Persistent children can learn to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs in this interactive work. A first-person mystery story narrated by an Indiana Jones-like archaeologist provides a slender thread on which are hung multitudes of sidebars, factoids, captioned photos, graphic text elements, maps, and diagrams. Photos of Egyptian artifacts and sites are reasonably plentiful, but of such small size that they can be difficult to appreciate. The illustrations that accompany the archaeologist's story are rendered digitally, employing exaggerated perspective and texture mapping, which gives the book a video-game effect. The accompanying CD, however, includes a font for making one's own hieroglyphics on a computer–not a game. Determined readers will sift through the cacophony of clues to decode all the hieroglyphic and pictographic messages, but the design clutter and tiny typefaces will cause all but the most obsessed code breakers to give up.Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

There's a lot going on in this book. The umbrella story concerns a golden cat statue that archaeologist Dr. Stone (wearing his Indiana Jones hat) discovers is missing. A mysterious woman helps him find the hidden tomb that holds the secret of the cat's whereabouts. Readers can go along on the hunt as well and even be part of its solution. The real functions of the Code Quest series are to teach readers about codes (and code breaking) and give them insight into a particular culture. Here, that means offering significant information about hieroglyphs—an accompanying CD even allows kids to write using the ancient symbols. The attractive format features eye-catching glossy illustrations and is full of everything from notes to translate to information about cat worship. This may overload some readers, but those with an interest in ancient Egypt will be intrigued, and so will fans of Rick Riordan's new Kane Chronicles series. This is also a great choice for classrooms studying the period, as groups could solve the puzzles together. Grades 4-6. --Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Kingfisher
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075346411X
• ISBN 13: 9780753464113
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48