Gift Of The Nile - Pbk [Paperback]

Jan M. Mike (Author), Charles Reasoner (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Legends of the World

In ancient Egypt, Mutemwia the slave girl befriends Pharaoh and becomes his trusted counsel. But she is unhappy because she is not free. Will Pharaoh grant this gift to his friend?

The Legends of the World opens readers' minds to the diverse cultures of Native America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and the Americas through enchanting tales passed down through countless generations. Each book in the series features geographical, historical, and cultural information. Illustrated in full color.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3-- Based upon an ancient hieroglyph, this folktale tells of the Pharoah Senefru and the young woman, Mutemwia, who is given to him by her father as a gift. Wise, talented, and forthright, she soon becomes the Pharoah's special confidante. But when she confesses her homesickness to him, he imprisons her. Soon he, too, loses interest in life, and asks his magician for help. In the end, Mutemwia is granted her freedom, but she remains Senefru's truest friend. Mike's retelling is vivid in places, but stilted language and a choppy style reduce its power and appeal. The story itself goes in too many directions to build effectively. Although there is some explanatory material on the last page, there is no pronunciation guide. The characters in Reasoner's illustrations don't have mouths. If this is a characteristic of hieroglyphs, an explanation, or at least a reproduction of a hieroglyph of a human (other objects are offered on the last page) would be useful. Problems with color reproduction give the characters inconsistent skin tones. While the illustrations pick up many of the motifs of the hieroglyphs, as well as pyramids first built by Senefru, both the visuals and the text are, at best, average. --Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Siena College Library, Loudonville, NY
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Troll Communications (January 10, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816728143
• ISBN-13: 978-0816728145
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,662,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > African
  • #57 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > African

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gift of the Nile; An Ancient Egyptian Legend, July 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Gift Of The Nile - Pbk (Paperback)

Reading Level: Primary/Intermediate. The Gift of the Nile is alegend from the contient of Africa, but is an ancient Egyptianlegend. As a multi-cultural legend this is a great addition to any collection of books.The writing is fast paced and the illustrations are colorful and have an authentic Egyptian look about them. Not only does it tell a story of the Pharaohs but of the true meaning of friendship as well. It explains that to be a true friend we must accept people as they are and not try to control the people with whom we are friends. There is a historical note in the back of the book which gives a brief introduction of Egyptian life and that of the Pharaoh's.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable as Always!, January 30, 2007

By 

Amy Graham (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gift Of The Nile - Pbk (Paperback)

At this point, the Legends of the World Series is rather like an old friend...we can almost always count on our experience being pleasant, informative and fun...and that is the case with The Gift of the Nile: An Ancient Egyptian Legend. This time out we are introduced to Mutenwia a girl given to the Pharaoh by her father, as a gift. Though she is plain, she is honest and kind and soon becomes the Pharaoh's closest friend and advisor. Over time, she becomes terribly homesick and tells the Pharaoh of this. He is deeply hurt that he misses her old life more than she has missed him while he is away...he also begins to find it hard to be happy and enjoy life without Mutenwia as part of it and asks his Magician for counsel. The legend goes on and ultimately Pharaoh confesses to her that she is his truest friend and confidant and he cannot bear for her to leave, as a compromise, he gives her the freedom wants and grants her a home near the palace so that they might forever be close to one another.

Overall, the Gift of the Nile: An Ancient Egyptian Legend reminds me very much of Muti's Necklace (with minor variations). While I enjoyed Muti's strong character, this version is, I think closer to the traditional version. The illustrations are about par for the course for this series and far less lush and vivid than in Muti's Necklace, but still quite nice, though the lack of mouths throughout was somewhat distressing and eyes were either depicted as slits or fish (a little strange)...I'm not sure what the author/illustrator hoped to convey with these visuals. I give it four stars, it's a lovely story and the illustrations match the text quite well, but it's not as engaging as some of the others in this series have been. One final note, each book in this series comes with a one page summary of the legend, including other names it's been called and a bit about the history how the story developed and what its significance is, so you don't just get the story...you get the context as well! This is something that I really enjoy in this series and it's one of the reasons that I recommend it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood Favourite, December 3, 2008

By 

Francesca Fiore (austin, tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gift Of The Nile - Pbk (Paperback)

my mother bought me this book from a school book order form when i was in 3rd grade- it become one of my very favourite books as a child, and i still own it to this day. it helped cement my love of ancient history, ancient egypt in particular.
i love how the illustrations are a take on hieroglyphs, and the story is told in the almost formal way that hieroglyphs read in ancient egyptian.

if you have a little budding history buff, i can't recommend this book enough.