Customer Reviews

The Egyptian Box

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Like a kid in a candy store" is an expression often used to describe the novelty of seeing life through the innocent eyes of a child... To see life like in such a fascinated, unaffected way is something most adults yearn for, enduring months of 50 min. hours on a psychiatrist's couch, hoping to re-discover their inner child... but in `The Egyptian Box', a charming story about a transplanted eleven year-olds discovery of a mysterious Egyptian shabti, author Jane Curry does just that.

Written with the passion and playful wit of a child, Curry's story feels as if it were lived and experienced first hand, even with it's more mythical elements. Curry's deft blending of the fictional narrative with real Egyptian history and archaeology, coupled with living, breathing characters and enough contemporary references to keep the attention of any reader, all combine for a remarkably endearing, entirely consuming read. And if you've ever wanted to get inside the head of an eleven-year old, or experience the whimsical dra-medy of grade school, unsinkable little brothers, or struggle to make parents "get" what they inevitably can't... then look no further.

Being a bachelor in his 30's, books about eleven year-olds with magic Egyptian boxes aren't exactly at the top of my reading list... But this book came highly recommended from a trusted friend, so I gave it a read. I'm happy to say I was surprised and thrilled by just how much I found myself investing in and caring about 'Tee Woodie' and her misadventures with the Shabti. It's such a clever and amusing ride, and Curry so completely inhabits that grade-school mind, one wonders if she isn't perpetually eleven-years old herself. I must admit, I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

So in case my review hasn't been clear...

The Egyptian Box is a great book for kids and adults who still feel like kids (and for anybody looking for a fun, intriguing, quick read!) GIVE THIS BOOK A READ!

Jane Louise Curry's Egyptian Box tells of a mysterious Egyptian box inherited by a young girl - and the supernatural figure it releases. At first the ancient Egyptian worker seems subservient to her mistress' commands, but soon ulterior motives emerge and Tee finds herself fighting for her identity in this gripping supernatural thriller.

I am an avid reader of fiction, but I am also of a certain age and normally do not pick up books for young adults. Thank heaven I discovered The Egyptian Box, a lively fantasy book for young people who clearly like to think while they read. Many of my friend's youngsters read Ms. Curry's books with more than pleasure, as did I. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for literature with heart, spirit and intelligence.

The Egyptian box


If you like kind of scary books with a little mystery in it then you will like this book. I strongly recommend it.

This book is about a shabti box. This box is no ordinary box; it helps the pharaoh or the queen in the afterlife. This is what it's about. Tee is a young girl who moves to her great uncle's house after he died and she seems to hate her great uncle's house and store. Her great uncle had gifts for all of her family to enjoy. She finds out that her present was a shabti box. Very boring? No. Well she thinks it is. She starts to realize that the shabti box has a real life ghostly person in there. It starts to do what ever she asks it to do, and soon she realized that she can tell it to be herself and start to do her school work and mostly everything like chores and things that hate to do.
The shabti starts to like being the fake Tee so it takes over Tee's life. Now Tee wants it back but first she has to put it back in it's box. Will Tee complete the job in time?

This is a really funny book-- with some cool spooky bits.

Fifth-grader Tee Woodie inherits from her oddball great-uncle a box containing an Ancient Egyptian "shabti" doll that was made to be the magical servant of "Tiye," the Egyptian princess it was buried with-- and the shabti accidentally gets activated.

At first it thinks Tee is the princess, and Tee grabs at the chance to use her magical servant as a double who can go to school for her while she goofs off.

You know this has got to backfire, but the surprise-- and the spooky part-- is in how it backfires, and you're really kept guessing how Tee is ever going to outwit her magical double and save herself.

I really recommend this book.

The Egyptian Box is about a girl named Tee and she gets an Egyptian box from her uncle's junk store. The box has a shabiti in it and Tee soon finds out that it comes to life. The shabiti tries to do the work a slave would do but Tee says that it doesn't have to do it. The shabiti soon learns how the household is run, and it starts to make mischief while Tee tries to stop it.
I like this book because it has an object from Egypt in it and I like Egypt a whole lot. It has an Egyptian myth in it which makes the story exciting. What's even better is that the myth comes true. I like how the author sticks to the myth that the Egyptians made and doesn't go off with it doing what a normal woman today would do but what a three thousand year old slave woman would do. I like how Tee and the shabiti learn to speak to one another.
What I don't like is how the shabiti is ranked. In ancient Egypt the shabiti would be a slave and not a rich woman. In ancient Egypt a slave woman would wear only a white dress and absolutely no wig and jewelry. Also a slave would have no rights and be very cautious and nice towards the rich. The author makes the shabiti way too stiff like a robot, unlike a real person.
I would recommend this book to anyone especially children. It has no scary events in it either.

It is the worst book i ever read in my life because it doesnt have anything to do with Egypt.DONT READ IT .