Tutankhamen's Gift

From Publishers Weekly
As in Sabuda's Saint Valentine , this equally arresting five-color picture book appropriates the art of another culture to evoke a specific historical setting. Here, telling the story of the 14th-century, B.C., pharaoh, Sabuda uses painted, handmade Egyptian papyrus as the background for his art; a single cut, painted piece of black paper adhered to the papyrus forms each picture. Contrasting effectively with the rich black lines are luminescent orange, purple, blue, green and gold hues. The text, well suited to the target audience, explains how the quiet, diminutive youngest son of the pharaoh Amenhotep III often stopped to watch workers erecting the elaborate sandstone temples that his father had ordered built ("All this to please the gods and keep them happy!"). "Someday," Tutankhamen vows, "I too shall do something great to honor the gods"--and that day comes sooner than anyone expects. His brother (who had succeeded his father as pharaoh) dies suddenly when Tutankhamen is 10. Ascending the Egyptian throne, the boy rebuilds all the temples that his unpopular brother had destroyed, and he rules benevolently until his death nine years later. Sabuda neatly distills the history of a celebrated young ruler while offering a visual treat on each page. Ages 6-9. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-While not much is really known about Tutankhamen, his persona continues to intrigue young and old alike. Here is a book geared toward younger children about this fascinating figure. Imparting facts about Egyptian history, Sabuda creates a background world and then places the boy who would be king in it. Readers learn of customs such as the fact that only female members were included in ancient family portraits and that women in mourning threw dust in their hair when they wept. They read of temples built and then destroyed and of gods who became angry, abandoning their people. The uniqueness of this book, however, is in its extraordinary illustrations. Bold black framework cut from a single sheet of paper adheres to handmade Egyptian papyrus that has been brightly painted in dazzling early Egyptian designs. Cats, long worshiped by the Egyptians, are found on almost every page. Notes at the end of the book give additional facts about this ancient civilization and the discovery of Tut's tombs. For more information, try Piero Ventura and Gian P. Ceserani's In Search of Tutankhamen (Silver Burdett, 1985). But, for sheer beauty, Sabuda's book is a winner.Dot Minzer, North Barrington School, Barrington, ILCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Ages 5-9. Visually stunning, this fictionalized account of the boyhood of Tutankhamen makes an interesting subject for a picture book. Sabuda portrays Tutankhamen as a small, frail boy whose greatest delight is watching the Egyptian artisans and craftspeople build temples to the gods. When the pharaoh dies, Tut's brother, Amenhotep IV, becomes the unadmired ruler who banishes the old gods in favor of one single god. When Amenhotep dies under mysterious circumstances, Tutankhamen becomes pharaoh. Although in his author's note, Sabuda says that historical facts are difficult to determine and are debated by scholars, he pulls a reasonable narrative out of what is known about his subject. The big draw here is the art, naively charming but intricate in execution. Each picture is made from a single sheet of black paper that has been adhered to handmade Egyptian papyrus. Sabuda has then boldly colored in his figures and designs but left each piece of color, down to the stripe of a dress, outlined in black, giving the spreads the look of stained glass. The ample use of Egyptian motifs and designs adds to the convincing feel of the art. But it is the tentative boy at the center of the story that adds a certain poignancy to what might otherwise have been mere spectacle. Ilene Cooper


From Kirkus Reviews
A glimpse of the boy king, youngest son of Amenhotop III, which postulates that he enjoyed a quiet, relatively solitary childhood before his father's death. The boy is among those horrified by the destruction ordered by his brother Amenhotep IV when he proclaims the god of the sun as the one god; the book ends when King Tutankhamen succeeds to the throne, promising to ``rebuild the temples and fill them with monuments to the gods so the people will again have faith.'' The brief narrative is sufficient pretext for Sabuda's sumptuous double-spread illustrations, in which elegant black paper cuts create elegantly austere lines which are imposed on richly textured handmade Egyptian papyrus; solid areas of jewel-like colors are added to the resulting designs, which are based on ancient Egytian artifacts. A handsome labor of love. Note. (Biography/Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


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Gr 3-5-While not much is really known about Tutankhamen, his persona continues to intrigue young and old alike. Here is a book geared toward younger children about this fascinating figure. Imparting facts about Egyptian history, Sabuda creates a background world and then places the boy who would be king in it. Readers learn of customs such as the fact that only female members were included in ancient family portraits and that women in mourning threw dust in their hair when they wept. They read of temples built and then destroyed and of gods who became angry, abandoning their people. The uniqueness of this book, however, is in its extraordinary illustrations. Bold black framework cut from a single sheet of paper adheres to handmade Egyptian papyrus that has been brightly painted in dazzling early Egyptian designs. Cats, long worshiped by the Egyptians, are found on almost every page. Notes at the end of the book give additional facts about this ancient civilization and the discovery of Tut's tombs. For more information, try Piero Ventura and Gian P. Ceserani's In Search of Tutankhamen (Silver Burdett, 1985). But, for sheer beauty, Sabuda's book is a winner.-Dot Minzer, North Barrington School, Barrington, IL


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