Customer Reviews

An ABC Escapade through Egypt

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This is a beautiful book! The pictures are gorgeous, and the text is just wonderful! Children of all ages will enjoy this. Younger children will appreciate the colorful photographs while teaching them the ABC's. Older children will love that the text is not too "textbook"--it's actually fun to read! And even adults will probably learn more about modern Egypt than they have ever learned before!

An ABC Escapade through Egypt is a wonderful children's book, with beautiful photographs of the many wonders of Egypt. It is clever, fun to read, and lovely to look at. I highly recommend this book.

One not only reads but views Bernadette Simpson's An ABC Escapade Through Egypt. Filled with beautiful photographs of Egypt's rich culture, the book reads like a children's version of The Amazing Race. Using the alphabet and alliteration as the backbone driving the various excursions through this amazing country, Simpson introduces the reader to the food, entertainment, history, culture, wildlife, transportation, and other facets of Egyptian life. There is even a recipe for kids to make doe-ah (don't know what this is - pick up the book!).

Want to learn more about a Camel's hump? What about the many uses of date palm trees? Learn about the many types mangos and what a prickly pear is. Are hieroglyphics more your interest? Well it's all here.

Don't let the title fool you. This is not a preschool letter learning book for pre-school children, though they are sure to enjoy the wonderful pictures. This is a thoughtful, informative journey for 9-12 year olds which can be fully appreciated by adults as well. Certainly, Bernadette's rich background, having lived all over the world and now residing in the small town of Dahab in South Sinai, has provided her the sensitivity to experience and convey the wonders of Egypt.

This is amazing, fantastic book! I can't say enough about the content and the illustrations. I wish I found it when my children were smaller. I would recommend it especially to PARENTS OF GIFTED CHILDREN! You can read it with gifted kids as early as 2 years of age! Parents whose children love DK Eyewitness books should note this book and the author.

As an elementary school teacher in the U.S. with an Egyptian background, I have waited a long time for a high-quality book such as An ABC Escapade through Egypt to teach my students about Modern Egypt. A great deal of literature is available about Ancient Egypt, and many students only understand Egypt in terms of pharaohs and pyramids. Information students have received about Egypt in the present day is typically from the media, with a focus on religion, politics, and conflict. This book serves as an educational tool to help children understand Egypt as a modern country with unique beauty and a rich culture. An ABC Escapade through Egypt has helped to fill a void in my classroom library. In addition, Bernadette Simpson's accompanying website is amazingly comprehensive and offers even more tools to explore Egypt. Meaningful educational opportunities are endless.

Have you ever thought about visiting Egypt? Readers of Escapade through Egypt will feel like they have been there in person after viewing the amazing photographs on every page of the book. Bernadette Simpson set out to acquaint the reader with everyday life in Egypt, and her book truly achieves this goal. The author's conversational style invites the reader into many aspects of Egyptian daily life with clarity and humor. Many pages include interactive activities such as the balancing quiz about bread and explaining different ways to spell and pronounce yogurt. This is the kind of book that readers will return to again and again to enjoy the photographs and learn more details about the many topics covered in the book. The glossary is a wealth of information by itself. Ms. Simpson's appreciation of Egypt and its culture is easily communicated to the reader. I recommend this book to educators who teach units on Egypt, to anyone who enjoys learning about other cultures, and to travelers who have been to Egypt or would like to visit one day. It is a masterpiece!"

Synopsis: This book is exactly what the title says it is: an escapade through modern-day Egypt using the alphabet as a guide.

My two cents: This book is an alliterative masterpiece that belongs on every bookshelf in every home. I was enthralled from the first page. Ms Simpson manages to capture life in modern Egypt with a few simple letters, easy to understand wording and magnificent photographs. From (A)thletes to the city of (Z)amalek, with (E)grets, the (R)ed Sea and (U)rchins in between, it is a truly amazing journey.

While making use of the alphabet to bring the reader into Ms Simpson's world, this is not your typical preschool ABC book. It is written at a more advanced level, more for 9-12 year olds. However, this will be a primary book I use in teaching my own young children about the wonders of modern-day Egypt.

I am a great believer in getting kids to read by letting them read what they enjoy or what interests them the most. An ABC Escapade Through Egypt by Bernadette Simpson is one such book. Packed with gorgeous photographs and a vibey, interesting approach to layout, this striking book is sure to captivate any 8-12-year-old. By mixing modern fun facts with historical, cultural, and geographical elements of Egypt the author has hit on the perfect way to seamlessly merge the old with the new in this fun book. The author weaves snippets into each section so that almost without knowing it, the reader is learning about the weather, the food (including a few recipes!), the animals, the people, the cities, and the past all at once. Alliterative phrases sing to the young reader in ways that compel further reading: Jumping Jerboas, Gallivanting Goats, Oodles of Olives, and Piles of Prickly Pear--irresistible! The author has also cleverly inserted little puzzles and quizzes into pages to test the reader's memory of what he or she has just read. What better way to get kids to learn. Unusual words also play their part and when one reads about things like baladi, konafa, and felukat, who could close the book without discovering what they mean. The author's passion for Egypt is palpable and leaps from each page. A multimedia website completes this adventure through Egypt, and encourages the young reader to explore further. I highly recommend this book for parents and teachers to introduce a new and interesting country to children.

Elegant Egrets and Floating Felukat
Mountains of Mangoes and Oodles of Olives
Zooming Zalamokkat in Zamalek...

These are a few of Egypt's favorite things as described by Bernadette Simpson in her delightful book "An ABC Escapade through Egypt".

Using alliterative writing and the English alphabet, the author has composed a series of one-page chapters that cover everything about living in modern Egypt, from "Admiring Amazing Athletes" to the funny names Egyptians use to call a Mercedes car.

An ABC Escapade through Egypt is a children educational book not dealing with the trite Western perception of Egypt as a country with a fanciful past. Instead, Simpson has focused her attention on delivering amazing facts about a vibrant modern country, one Egyptian children can be proud of. And with its colorful photographs printed on simulated papyrus background, the book is also a fine souvenir to bring back home.

Bernadette Simpson uses an unpretentious English conversational style, spiced here and there with Arabic words. I went hungry for delicious desert dates and thirsty for wonderful watermelons. I felt relaxed at the Red Sea and troubled traveling through traffic. Once finished, I had a wonderful modern Egyptian experience. I know other readers, young and not so young, will have it too.

This is a brilliant book about Modern Egypt, full of great pictures and lots of information on all sorts of things Egyptian, ranging from football teams to jerboas to konafa. It does also include facts on more obvious areas such as camels and date palms. Each page has some main facts, suitable for 7-9 year olds, with additional information which is probably more accessible for 10 years and above. Younger children would probably find the pictures very interesting. Adults should enjoy the information too and the accompanying website ([...]),written by the author, provides lots of links to each of the ABC topics.
N.B. Don't be put off ordering it because the Amazon service says it takes 6 weeks to arrive from the USA. Mine arrived within a week by airmail, personally autographed by the author. Highly recommended!