Customer Reviews

The Winged Cat

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

 

 

The reason I like this book is the beautiful illustrations of Egyptian hieroglyphics and the different gods of the Egyptian pantheon. Ms. Lattimore usesthe correct historical terms while telling a good story. I use this story every year in my classroom as one tool to enrich my students' knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture. Each page is a learning experience for my sixth graders as they identify the different parts of the illustrations and its relationship to story. The Afterword gives details about Ancient Egypt.

I purchased this book on the recommendation of a friend, and couldn't be happier with it. My daughter loves cats, and sometimes likes to pretend to BE one of our 5 cats... so she really became involved in this book's mystical and ethical story. I love the illustrations and especially appreciate the artistic style - nicely situated between western and Egyptian. The decodable heiroglyphics is truly an inspiration. I was having trouble getting my little girl to respond to phonics (I am home schooling her), but after treating the heiroglyphics as just plain FUN, she took to the phonics with an attitude of fun as well. Lattimore makes her story both informative and fun.

My kindergarten age child is burning with passion for anythingabout ancient Egypt. We enjoyed this story immensely and have read itmany times. Each time, we discover new meanings in the detailedillustrations and decodable hieroglyphics....

The story and picturesbring many elements of Egytian mythology alive in ways thatnon-fiction can't. My son and I have read lots of recent non-fictionabout Ancient Egypt. From our other reading it seems to me that, inThe Winged Cat, mythical story elements hew closely to what is knownabout Ancient Egyptian theology. END

I'm sure I'll get hate mail on this review here, but the book is out of print so I'll write it anyway!

I like this author, so I ordered the book for a homeschooling unit on Ancient Egypt. I was a little disappointed when I first read through it. There is a lot of pagan religion in it, including a lot of mentioning of spells, secret keys, and things. I'm really not big on that kind of stuff and usually steer my kids away from it. It was also just a little too wordy and complex for my littlest kids (5 and 6). Even though the story is short and simple, it was more ideal for my older kids. I was initially going to give the book three stars.

But even though my initial reaction was disappointment, I later found more value to the book. It is one of the only books I found that really brought home how the Egyptians viewed the soul's pilgrimage after death. It omits the role of Anubis, but the characters go through the different gates and tests the soul had to pass, including the role of secret names and the weighing of the heart with the Feather of Truth. Other books we read mentioned some of these pieces to the afterlife narrative (i.e. Pepi and the Secret Names, Gods and Goddesses), but none of them put the pieces together. And whereas I was able to find one other helpful book on the tests the Egyptian soul faces in the afterlife (i.e. "Pharaoh" by David Kennett), that book was much higher reading level and non-fiction.

So this book wasn't my favorite for its spiritual message (I was hoping it didn't fill my kids with all kinds of strange fictional ideas that contradicted what they learn in the Bible), but it did serve a unique purpose.

"The Winged Cat" by Lattimore is a wonderful book full of Egyptian mythology and beautiful illustrations. Ms. Lattimore is not only a wonderful
writer, but also trained and knowledgeable in archaeology. She writes of what she knows. The story is compelling and introduces many of the
Egyptian deities. Honesty triumphs over deceit and the lowest of lowly characters is elevated to heavenly heights because of her compassion and
truthfulness. The pictures are clear and elegant. The pictures tell the story by themselves and demonstrate the powers and symbols of the many
gods. It is a book for upper elementary and middle school students and anyone who loves mythology or anything Egyptian. I purchased the paperback
version at Amazon.com. Dinah