Steedman, Scott. The Egyptian news: the greatest newspaper in civilization. Milwaukee, WI.: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2000. ISBN: 978-0763641986.
Author / Illustrator Website: None
Media: Pen and Colored Ink.
Use of Alliteration: (p. 12) “Taxing Talk.” (p. 20) “Pyramid Power.” (p. 21) “Tomb Talk.”
Special Notations: Lesson Plan Available at http://picturebooksforbigkids.blogspot.com/search/label/6th%20Grade%20Social%20Studies
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: A compilation of facts and the history of ancient Egypt is presented in a humorous, newspaper format. The news includes stories about pyramids building, the reign of Hatshepsut, the significance of the Nile river, mummification, crops, fashion and Egyptian Gods.
Personal Reaction: The Egyptian news has eye-catching front and back covers filled with stories about pyramids and mummies with titles such as “A Soaring Success!” and “Wrapping It Up!” Student readers will be drawn to this newspaper format book as soon as they see the covers. The inside will not disappoint, either. Every pages reads like a real newspaper spread with illustrated articles in news columns framed by hieroglyphics. The titles of the news stories are silly and alliterative, but the story content is well-researched and factual. I thought the visual appeal of this book would be great for sparking the interest of sixth graders studying ancient Egypt, but wanted to confirm that the information was useful and accurate. I read several other books about ancient Egypt and compared notes; author Scott Steedman did his homework when he wrote The Egyptian News and educators can confidently offer this book to students as an introduction to many important aspects of ancient Egypt studies. The “news” articles provide a concise introduction to architecture, agriculture, religion, family life, culture, politics and economics during the period 5000 B.C. to 30 B.C. Educators can recommend more in-depth sources on each topic after engaging student interest. “Are you dying to know what goes on inside those mysterious embalming tents?” (p. 18) uses a pun to gain the reader’s attention, but this humorous query is followed by a fact-filled article that covers organ preservation, treatment of dead bodies and the mummification process in detail. Steedman uses a similar approach for most of the article and “advertisements” in the book and it works well. The book also includes a map of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom, as well as a timeline of key events and a comprehensive index.
