Customer Reviews

A Place in the Sun

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Place in the Sun is about a boy named Senmut who lives in Egypt. He must go to the mines of Nubia for a serious crime. Read A Place in the Sun to find out what the crime is. I like Senmut's adventures. His adventures can go from roaring in the desert to spying on thefts. I do not like their gross food. I would recommend this to a quiet person or an adventurous person. I would recommend for you to be 9 or up to read this book. Alex, age 9

A great read with lots of emotion. This book gave me a really good feeling of ancient Egypt and made me feel like I was there. I felt like I could have been Senmut because he was a boy my age and seemed to be like me. I learned lots about Egypt while enjoying the characters and setting.

I am a really picky homeschooler, and I have been challenged to find wholesome books on Ancient Egypt this year. I approached "A Place in the Sun" with some hesitancy because I was very disappointed with "Maia of Thebes" and some of the other literature often recommended in the homeschooling catalogs I have. Either the recommendations are too dark and spooky, or too liberal and feminist. I have young boys, so I was looking for something that was not too challenging either. This is easier than "Cat of Bubastes" for example.

"Place in the Sun" worked for us ok. I wish it had been a little better---more uplifting tone, maybe, or not quite as stop-start in the pace---but I read it aloud to my 7 and 8 year olds, and they liked it all right. I think they sensed that a typical story on Egypt is not going to be light and lively. There's slavery in the story, punishment, and hardship. But the story works well for boys because the main character is a boy around that age, who has feelings a lot like theirs even though the setting is thousands of years ago. My kids are bright but needed a lot of interpretation of what was going on, though, so I'm glad it was a read aloud. If they had read it silently (which they could have because the vocabulary and length wasn't that challenging), I think most of it would have gone over their heads. They needed help with the culture gap (i.e. names of gods/goddesses, the way the temple and justice system worked, the sociology of cursing/pledges that went on) but they also needed help with literary devices (i.e. foreshadowing, time jumps, some symbols here and there). They got it, though.

Having read Rubalcalba's other non-fiction book on Egypt, I know she knows what she's talking about. She seems to have first hand knowledge of the civilization and I think my boys walked away knowing what living in ancient Egypt as a boy would have really been like. But as thankful as I am for that, it's a totally secular book with little to really make it a proactive good read. There's not even a moral really. I wouldn't seek it out, I guess... I would just use it if you needed it to fill a niche, like I did.

A place in the sun is great. At first you say Mum this is borring. When you have just finised chapter 5 you think this is great. When you have finished the whole book you will say 'thank you Mum & Dad. This is for ten year olds and I am only Eight. You should get it! Tamanna Breen

A Place in the Sun is about a boy who is named Senmut. He has many adventures. He lives in Egypt. I liked the book because everything turns out OK. There are some hard words in the book. I recommend you should be 8 or up to read this book. But it is your choice. Eric, age 8

This is a memorable story about overcoming some unexpected and horrible circumstances in life. Senmut's father is snake bitten, and as Senmut prays to the gods for his recovery, he begins to carve a statue to glorify the goddess Sekhmet. While working on the statue, he accidentally commits a forbidden act, and is immediately banished to die a slave under brutal conditions. He learns to survive from a fellow slave, and steals a bit of gold in order to carve yet another form of the goddess Sekhmet. Upon discovery, he should be punished by death (slow and painful) but instead, he is repreived by Pharoah.

A happy ending for this coming-of-age story.

Very easy reading -- 2nd grade? Your child may need help with some names, or they might just slog through by themselves.

Plenty of Egyptian mythology and idols.

The story was good and the message it delivered excellent. However, the reading was difficult for my child due to all the names. Instead of being a read alone, it was a read out loud by the parent.

I bought this book as a read aloud for my reading class. As one previous reviewer mentioned, the names did give a bit of trouble. For my kids, however, low level almost non-readers, the story was good as a read aloud. By the end of the book, the students were able to tell me the who what when where why and hows of the story, if not the actual names. It is interesting to note, that as I read the story to my students, I was amazed at the religious underpinings. With what has been said recently about The Golden Compass (see my review) nothing has been said about this book which celebrates Egyptian polytheism. Of course, I am being facetious. This just goes to show that any book that deals with a non-Christian religion can be charged with expousing an anti-Christian message. The goddess in the book is seen as all powerful and worthy of devotion. Funny how critics pick and choose what to rile over. Perhaps if they just look at the basic story, in this case the love of a boy for his ill father, any critic will see a wonderful story of devotion, not to an ancient god but to one boy's family.

A place in the sun was a good book for most of it some parts werent as good as i thought they would be. I like the part about Senmut going to see the Phaoroahs son and what would happen. Also I like Ancient egypt its got a cool way to it for accept the slaves and people getting starved and beat to death. At first when I was reading the book I thought it was kinda boring and lame but then I got more into it and it got better. I Like the part when Senmut was finished making the statue and when Senmut had to go see the God of amon and what he would say to them. Over all the book was ok.

I was very pleased with the product. The product was shipped in time. I would definetly buy from the Amazon site again.