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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
April Hall goes to live with her grandmother Caroline when her mother goes on tour with a band. She makes a new friend in Melanie Ross. The two girls have the same soaring imaginations and click quickly.
They both love to learn about new (and old) things and share a fascination with ancient Egypt. With Melanie's little brother they develop the Egypt Game. Over time the group grows to 6.
At the same time, tragedy strikes the neighborhood when the second child in two years is found murdered. All the kids are kept on a short leash which threatens the game.
This is a great read. Melanie and April and wonderful characters. The story is fun and scary and emotionally real as the girls keep their imagining to themselves because they don't want to be made fun of.
Every child who wanted a group to belong to. Who wanted friends and a secret language and to be someone else for even a minute will understand these kids and want to be their friend.
The grown-ups are there, but they don't interfere. The kids are the story and the grown-ups are there when they are needed. Just as they should be.
They both love to learn about new (and old) things and share a fascination with ancient Egypt. With Melanie's little brother they develop the Egypt Game. Over time the group grows to 6.
At the same time, tragedy strikes the neighborhood when the second child in two years is found murdered. All the kids are kept on a short leash which threatens the game.
This is a great read. Melanie and April and wonderful characters. The story is fun and scary and emotionally real as the girls keep their imagining to themselves because they don't want to be made fun of.
Every child who wanted a group to belong to. Who wanted friends and a secret language and to be someone else for even a minute will understand these kids and want to be their friend.
The grown-ups are there, but they don't interfere. The kids are the story and the grown-ups are there when they are needed. Just as they should be.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
UTTERLY CHARMING. I smiled at this book on the train a lot.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book designed for such a young audience but I just couldn't resist it. Anything with Egypt pretty much immediately catches my eye and if I remember correctly, I saw this one on the summer reading bookshelf in Barnes and Noble (I’m constantly surprised by what’s on those shelves and I love looking through them). So I snagged it, read the back cover and I may just have peed a little. While the summary didn’t mimic my childhood exactly, it came pretty close, what with my obsession with ancient Egypt at that very age. I mean, I was reading pop-up books on how to mummify a person when I was 8. Needless to say, I bought it.
What it’s about is the main MC, April, moves in with her grandmother and befriends another girl named Melanie who just so happens to have a crazy love of Egypt just like her. At first April is a little stuck on herself because she comes from Hollywood and can’t get over the faux attitude but Melanie chips it (and her false eyelashes) away and she finally becomes a pretty normal chick. Before long four other kids join their Egypt game and it’s not long before their land of pretend starts to cross the lines of reality.
I thought this was a freakin’ cute book. I was a little disappointed, but self-imposed, because it didn’t turned out to be as fantasy-laced as I thought it was going to be. I was expecting time warps and trips back to the ancient land but everything was very much grounded in reality despite the amount of imagination used in this game.
Aside from that, the way the game chips away at the kids’ embarrassment and makes them open themselves up to just letting their imaginations run wild is all sorts of self-empowering. When April becomes the next target for the neighborhood murderer, that risk bleeds into their land of pretend and brings the group, along with a new and unexpected member, closer together. Not to mention it teaches them valuable lessons.
Now I’m not up to speed on what’s considered “normal” for middle grade reading but just from a purely personal standpoint, I thought some of the language was a little too advanced for the age range and it was a little too hand-holding-singing-Kumbaya at the end for my personal tastes. That rightly could be attributed to the fact is was written in 1967 and the market dictated different expectations then. But really, that’s besides the point.
But what I loved about this book was that the kids were interested in history instead of video games and Hollywood actors, despite it's original pub date. There's nothing in the story that dates it so while it was written in 1967, it could just as easily been written last year. It made me, personally, feel like what I was interested in when I was that age wasn’t all that weird and is so much better than being parked in front of a TV watching Spongebob. The level of dedication these kids had with this make-believe game was awe-inspiring and I hope that kids that read this book learn from this that it’s OK to go out and use your imagination instead of letting it get sucked away by modern technology.
The best part, though, was that these kids didn’t just pretend to know what they were doing in their Egypt game. They actually went to the library and did real, tangible research. They read books. They borrowed them from the library. They emulated their games as much as they could based off of fact. How could it get any better?
Despite the lack of fantastical elements (which I truly am a little disappointed but I’ll get over it), I’m very much intrigued about the next book in the series, The Gypsy Game, not to mention other books Snyder has written like The Magic Nation Thing. The woman isn’t a Newbery Honor recipient for nothing.
What it’s about is the main MC, April, moves in with her grandmother and befriends another girl named Melanie who just so happens to have a crazy love of Egypt just like her. At first April is a little stuck on herself because she comes from Hollywood and can’t get over the faux attitude but Melanie chips it (and her false eyelashes) away and she finally becomes a pretty normal chick. Before long four other kids join their Egypt game and it’s not long before their land of pretend starts to cross the lines of reality.
I thought this was a freakin’ cute book. I was a little disappointed, but self-imposed, because it didn’t turned out to be as fantasy-laced as I thought it was going to be. I was expecting time warps and trips back to the ancient land but everything was very much grounded in reality despite the amount of imagination used in this game.
Aside from that, the way the game chips away at the kids’ embarrassment and makes them open themselves up to just letting their imaginations run wild is all sorts of self-empowering. When April becomes the next target for the neighborhood murderer, that risk bleeds into their land of pretend and brings the group, along with a new and unexpected member, closer together. Not to mention it teaches them valuable lessons.
Now I’m not up to speed on what’s considered “normal” for middle grade reading but just from a purely personal standpoint, I thought some of the language was a little too advanced for the age range and it was a little too hand-holding-singing-Kumbaya at the end for my personal tastes. That rightly could be attributed to the fact is was written in 1967 and the market dictated different expectations then. But really, that’s besides the point.
But what I loved about this book was that the kids were interested in history instead of video games and Hollywood actors, despite it's original pub date. There's nothing in the story that dates it so while it was written in 1967, it could just as easily been written last year. It made me, personally, feel like what I was interested in when I was that age wasn’t all that weird and is so much better than being parked in front of a TV watching Spongebob. The level of dedication these kids had with this make-believe game was awe-inspiring and I hope that kids that read this book learn from this that it’s OK to go out and use your imagination instead of letting it get sucked away by modern technology.
The best part, though, was that these kids didn’t just pretend to know what they were doing in their Egypt game. They actually went to the library and did real, tangible research. They read books. They borrowed them from the library. They emulated their games as much as they could based off of fact. How could it get any better?
Despite the lack of fantastical elements (which I truly am a little disappointed but I’ll get over it), I’m very much intrigued about the next book in the series, The Gypsy Game, not to mention other books Snyder has written like The Magic Nation Thing. The woman isn’t a Newbery Honor recipient for nothing.
Sometimes a book is daringly original for its time but in retrospect comes across as merely bland. I'm sure that in 1967, a novel about 6 ethnically diverse kids practicing pseudo Egyptian rituals in a ramshackle junkyard must have seemed very cutting edge, but it now feels hopelessly dated. First, Snyder's awkward need to mention the nonwhite kids' ethnicity ("Kevin was all Asian American"..."the Ross's are African American...that's okay, I knew black people in L.A.") is grating; it also makes it clear that white is the norm and any other ethnicity has to be "explained". Second, despite Snyder's best efforts, some stereotyping sneaks in. Elizabeth the Chinese girl is tiny and doll-like, while in a flashback we learn that a character's loved one was murdered in an uprising in some benighted unnamed 3rd world country, "by the very people she was trying to help". Ouch.
The inclusion of a serial child killer undoubtedly landed this book on some banned lists, (along with the faux sorcery), but what made me squirm was the all too common equating of mental illness with violence. It's hard to know how to present this material to a 6th grade audience, but surely there are better ways than this.
Points for creativity and the celebration of childhood imagination, (although why were the 2 boys allowed to take over the leadership in a story that had up to then been mostly about 2 girls?)
Definitely a meh.
The inclusion of a serial child killer undoubtedly landed this book on some banned lists, (along with the faux sorcery), but what made me squirm was the all too common equating of mental illness with violence. It's hard to know how to present this material to a 6th grade audience, but surely there are better ways than this.
Points for creativity and the celebration of childhood imagination, (although why were the 2 boys allowed to take over the leadership in a story that had up to then been mostly about 2 girls?)
Definitely a meh.
I enjoyed this book as an adult as much as I did as a kid. I'm excited to see my son read it soon. As a kid who grew up with an active imagination that has turned into an adult with an active imagination, the story of children creating a fantasy world to escape the world is something I can relate to.
Wonderful story. Although there is a subplot of child murder, it's in the background and treated with respect.
Wonderful story. Although there is a subplot of child murder, it's in the background and treated with respect.
This was a good book, it showed how kids can make imaginary play fun even in junior high in 6th and 7th grade!
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was okay. It touched a little on ancient Egypt and a lot of serious issues the main characters faced from fitting in to stay safe in an unsafe world. It was entertaining and even heart warming at times. But other times it dragged on forever. That's why I rated it only 3 stars.