Logan, Claudia. The 5,000-year-old puzzle: solving a mystery of ancient Egypt. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2002. ISBN: 978-0374323356.
Author Website: None
Illustrator Website: http://melissasweet.net/
Media: Watercolor Paint, Black and White Photographs and Collage
Curricular Connection: History Social-Science Content Standards for California, Grade Six, Standard 6.2: Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush.
Annotation: In 1924, Egyptologist Dr. George Reisner leads a team at an archaeological site in Giza. This fact-filled picture book based on Reisner’s dig is told by fictional character Will through journal entries and postcards.
Personal Reaction: This book is a great example of how enticing a history lesson can be for students. Author Logan has worked both as a teacher and museum educator and she uses her background to draw students into Egyptian studies. Logan uses a real event, the 1924 Harvard dig, Giza 7000X, as a backdrop for a mystery picture book that covers archaeological digs, Egyptian history hieroglyphics, mummification and burial rituals. The mystery centers on the missing body of Queen Hetep-heres from a tomb that yields many pieces of Egyptians furniture and jewelry and is the largest undisturbed royal burial discovered in Egypt. Will Hunt, the fictional character that tags along with Dr. Reisner on the dig serves as a narrator for the mystery. While Will’s voice seems a little young for the subject at ties, the collage of postcards, journal entries, packing list, dig inventory and authentic photographs drawn and compiled by Caldecott winning illustrator Sweet are wonderful. The illustrations are a collage of watercolor paintings that offer readers plenty to look at and serve to include ample details about Egypt and archaeology. Notes at the end of the book include Dr. Reisner’s theory about the missing body of the queen and a list of real clues that support this theory.
