The Egypt Game

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Summary: The Egypt Game
Review: The Egypt Game is an exciting book. In the beginning of the story is boring. After you read on it gets better. The story has six main characters, April, Melanie, Marshall, Toby, and Ken. April is Friends with Melanie. Melanie has a brother named Marshall. Toby and Ken join later in the game. They're like any other boys, but at times they're a real handful. Ken always says,"Sheesh", Marshall always takes an octopus with were ever he goes, and April also moved to live with her grandmother Caroline. There's also a Professor who has a store called: A-Z Antiques Curious Used Merchandise, but no one knows what A-Z means so is it a real mystery after all? solve the puzzle by reading The
Egypt Game!

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Summary: (Un)Commonplace Magic
Review: A recent thread on rec.arts.books covered people's favorite children's books. I hadn't heard of this one, and the title intrigued me (I'm a sucker for games), so I went out hunting. April Dawn (not her real name) is the daughter of a Hollywood wannabe who comes to the small town of the story to live with her grandmother. She makes friends with the girl down the hall. Sound a little boring? Well, it's not, because Snyder has a touch of authenticity rare in children's books. Most of the ones that I like tend to exaggerate the adults or the children's experiences, such as the recently read James and the Giant Peach or classics like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Snyder's world is wonderfully real and alive. The children are sweet and cruel to each other and adults; the adults are understanding and sick. Why, there's even a "serial" killer in this book. Frightening? Yes, but because we see this through the eyes of children, the scary aspect quickly changes to the drudgery of not being allowed as free a rein to play.

And play is what the Egypt Game is about. April and her friend Melanie are imagineers of the first stripe. Their game is drawn from their mutual fascination for things Egyptian and the convenient vacant junk lot behind the A-Z store. The game is perfectly portrayed--how children can make and follow their rules, but also how they stop in the midst of the game to redefine or add new rules as well.

I prefer children's books with a little magic in them (or, in the case of Narnia, a lot of magic), so I was delighted to read one in which the magic was of the commonplace sort rather than otherworldly.

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Summary: Sielby Richview Middle School
Review: It starts out with a girl named April who meets a girl named Melaine and her brother Marshall. Then they make up a game calledThe Eggypt Game. And a new girl , Elizabeth joins in . Then a murder happens in the neighborhood which causes them not to be able to go outside and play thier game. So they meet at a house everyday and make Eyptian names and cotumes. When Halloween came insteas of trick-or-treating, they sneek out to go play the game. Two annoying 6th graders caught them. They ended up joining. After that, they created a new alphbet and rituals/cerimonies . Then they tried an oracle . Mysteriously it answered. They found out that one of the 6th graders did it. So at the end all the friends finished the game. I guess the book was o.k. It wasn't all that exciting , but it was o.k. I'd tell a friend thet the book does have lots of imagination.

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Summary: The Egypt Game
Review: Melanie Ross didn't think she and April (the new girl) would get along.
Actually, they become best friends. They have a lot in common. Like they are both crazy about old Egyptian things,they are in the same class, and live in the same apartment.
When they find an empty storage yard behind A-Z shop, owned by the Professor,they get the craziest idea and start the Egypt Game there. After a lot of ceremonies, three more Egyptians join the game. Now there are six Egyptians (Melanie,April,Toby,Marshall (Melanie's brother),Elizabeth,and Ken).
A little girl was murdered and the murderer wasn't found. The kids in the neighborhood cannot play outside until the murderer is found. Strange things happen to the Egyptians and they are in trouble,life risk wise.
I enjoyed the book a lot.

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Summary: Excellent Book, read this review, it will be very helpful
Review: I think this was a great book! I'm 13 years old and I just finished reading this book on January 3, 2001. I thouroughly enjoyed this story. The author is truly gifted, and the way she words everything just makes the story come alive. I especially liked the way Zilpha Keatley Snyder described the characters and their personalities. It made me feel that I was right there, in that shed, watching the kids play the Egypt Game. The story couldn't be more realistic if I were in it. Her details are amazing, and I must say, this is now my favorite book. I hope to read more of Ms. Snyder's work in the future, starting with The Gypsy Game.

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Summary: EGYPT GAME
Review: excellent book!! the charectors in this book are so realistic, that you feel like you know them. very moving book, humorus... i really recommend this book!

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Summary: Egypt Game
Review: The language is a little out dated, as this book was written in 1967. Nonetheless, it's heart is in the right place and it is still a delightful fantasy / fiction story for kids.

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Summary: Amanda Casey @ Richview Middle School
Review: There is about four children one boy and about four girls. There is about five kids April, Melanie ,Toby, Ken, Elizabeath. There was a girl that moved from Hollywood. Now she lives with her grandmother. Then she meant a girl that lived there for two or three years. She had some fake eyelashes and wanted to wear them to school. One of her firends didn't want her to wear them.Then a couple months later it was Halloween! The climax is were tody had got hurt really bad . Then after that happen they had found out that girl had gotting murder too! They go to a fenced in yard and it is right beside the porfesser's store he sping on them . They fix the place up like new! They think they are getting spied on , but they don't know htat they are really getting spied on. At the end they have to answer some question are about getting an after school job. And the porfesser had giving them.Then they start to sing Chrietmas songs.

Well, this story is ok! If someone likesaction this book is not the bok for you !iguess the book was ok . It wasn't all that exiciting , but it was ok I'd tell a firend that the book has lots of imagination.

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Summary: Food for the Imagination
Review: April and Melanie became fast friends the first time they met--they both had irrepressible imaginations and the desire to put those imaginations to use. Quite by accident, they found a way into an overgrown, fenced in storage yard behind it that obviously wasn't being used by it's owner, the local curio shop. April and Melanie knew instantly that it would be the perfect place to play pretend and set about making it inhabitable. Doing so, they discover a somewhat beat-up, but still beautiful, bust of Nefertiti. Add that to their imagination and the Egypt Game was born.

With Melanie's baby brother as the Boy Pharaoh and themselves as priestess to both Isis and Set (they took turns being the bad priestess), they created elaborate ceremonies and scenarios. Much reading was done at the local library and as their Egyptian knowledge grew, their interest in the game stayed fast. Eventually there are six in the Egypt Game, using their imaginations and their research skills.

Things take an odd turn as the "unexplained" makes an appearance. The six "Egyptians" start to wonder if the game has gone too far, crossed a line that they didn't know could be crossed. I won't spoil it be explaining, but will say that all turns out as it should.

I found this a good book for children on several levels. One was the relationship of April to her mother and to her grandmother. April idolized her mom, who was trying to make it big in Hollywood. April was sent to her grandmother's to stay for a while, just until her mom sorted things out in Hollywood. Seeing April mature and soften under the love of her steadfast grandmother is a good image for anyone.

The other thing I particularly liked about the Egypt Game was the obvious--the encouragement of both imagination and research. So many kids today don't play pretend. There are too many other distractions with TV, Internet and game systems. This book showed the magic of using the imagination, and the importance of doing a bit of research to know the subject. I liked that aspect immensely.

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Summary: The Egypt Game
Review: The Egypt Game is a book about kids, Melanie, Marshall, April, Elizabeth, Ken, and Toby who make ancient Egypt out of the backyard of a curio shop. The Egypt that they created has pharoahs, mummies, and royal thrones. They had robes and headdresses for everyone and they all loved Egypt. But when weird things start to happen to the Egyptians they get curious, like when a little girl's body is found dead near the dock, or when the Egyptians get a sign from the "gods." All the Egyptians get scared. Has the Egypt game gone to far? I really liked this book because of all the imaginative things that the kids come up with. I hope you do too!