The Egyptology handbook A course in the wonders of Egypt

Favorite series and characters take the stage once again. Devotees of Egyptology by the fictional amateur archaeologist Emily Sands who disappeared in 1927 will want to pore over the pages of The Egyptology Handbook: A Course in the Wonders of Egypt also by Sands, illus. by Ian Andrew, Nick Harris and Helen Ward. The paper-over-board book begins with a letter from Sands to her niece and nephew and then introduces "The Origins of Egypt: Up to 2650 B.C.," with activities to do, drawings of headresses for royalty, sketches of the pyramids, and ancient tales, as well as maps of the region and brief anecdotes about daily life and culture. A host of full-color stickers round out this interactive volume. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Designed more for a quick flip-through than any sort of serious study, this appendage to 2004's Egyptology looks like a battered notebook of general remarks about ancient Egypt with memorabilia clipped in, compiled by "Emily Sands," the fictive vanished archeologist. The special effects are limited to a page of stickers, a pasted-in envelope and a few flimsy flaps; the illustrations mix shadowy pencil drawings with realistically drawn old photos, brochures, leather edges, stains and scraps of ephemera. The text, written with eye-glazing dullness and presented in alternating blocks of globby typewriter face and a nearly illegible italic script, is rife with vague claims--" . . . there is evidence that a large number of the population could read and write, including a number of women"--unsupported by specific information, sources or even an index. Flashy but perfunctory. (Fictionalized nonfiction. 10-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.