Pyramid

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Summary: PYRAMID "SECRETS" REVEALED!
Review: Who built the pyramids of the Giza Plateau...and why? How were the two million massive stone blocks quarried and set into place? David MacAulay answers these questions and more in a most historically accurate and logically developed book. Written for children, MacAulay takes the reader through each intricate step of the pyramid's construction from its conception on papyrus to its final completion. Leaving no stone unturned, PYRAMID also provides intriguing information on the daily lives of the Ancient Egyptians: how they viewed life and death, and what God and the afterlife meant to them. Each page is filled with sprawling pen and ink drawings which clearly illustrate their clever engineering techniques. PYRAMID is a simply written but vastly informative and enjoyable book.

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Summary: How did this guy learn to draw?
Review: Who hasn't wondered how the Great Pyramids came to be? In this stunningly illustrated, richly detailed book, David Macaulay skillfully shows one way they could have built. I had ordered the book for our family's study of ancient Egypt, based on a recommendation in The Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Egypt, which raved about it. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was stunned at the detail and care of the drawings and fascinated by the accounts. Although the long descriptions were daunting for my then-first grader, the illustrations caught her eye, and her older siblings dug into it with enthusiasm.

Rating:
Summary: A captivating book on a popular subject with children
Review: With exquisitely detailed black-line drawings, this book shows how the pyramids in Egypt may have been constructed. A two-page introduction gives some background of life in Egypt, including an overview of Egyptian spiritual beliefs and practices, especially those related to death and dying. The introduction makes clear that this book is based on an imaginary pharaoh and an imaginary pyramid and that there are differences of opinion about the construction process the Egyptians used. After the brief introduction, the illustrations dominate, comprising as much as 80% of the pages. Almost like time-lapse photography, readers can see the pyramid grow in vast landscapes, giving children a good sense of the scale of the pyramids, where people are just specks dotting the sides of the massive structure. In addition to these landscapes, Macaulay includes background on the people who designed and built their pyramids and their techniques with illustrations of the different workers and their tools, as well as architectural floor plans and cutaway diagrams. The text is difficult and presents challenges with its vocabulary and syntax as well as its concepts. A one-page glossary of Egyptian and architectural terms provides some assistance. However, the account of how the priest uses the stars to locate true north is a difficult concept to comprehend; the textual and pictorial explanations may not be sufficient for any but advanced readers. Though the text and many of the concepts are demanding, young readers will be carried along by the drawings that truly offer a step-by-step guide to how the pyramids were built. The distant and perhaps "quaint"-seeming aspects of Egyptian beliefs and practices are nicely contrasted with their highly advanced, ingenious construction techniques. Children familiar with some aspects of ancient Egypt will perhaps be able to see the "bigger picture" and gain insight and appreciation into the culture of the ancient Egyptians. Younger children will enjoy following the process and watching the pyramid grow from page to page, while older children interested in the "how's" behind history will appreciate this novel approach to learning about ancient Egypt.