Adventures in Ancient Egypt FROM THE PUBLISHER
Adventures in Ancient Egypt and Adventures in the MiddleAges mix fact and fiction for fast, funny and fascinating romps through the past. Kids will love each book's contemporary comic-book look with its zany illustrations, speech balloons and guidebook. Parents and teachers will love the well-researched story lines and solid factual information. In the first book, the Binkerton twins, Josh and Emma, and their little sister Libby, stumble into the Good Times Travel Agency and take a once-in-a-lifetime trip back to ancient Egypt! The trio soon find themselves running from kid-eating crocodiles, tomb robbers and some very angry soldiers.
Author Biography: Linda Bailey is the author of the popular, award-winning Stevie Diamond series. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature
When Josh, Emma and Libby visit the Good Times Travel Agency, they get much more than a vacation¾ they get a time-travel adventure! This large hardcover book is filled with lots of fun facts, funny puns and a fast-paced story told in comic-strip style. For example, did you know that pyramid workers who were paid for their labors received prized condiments such as salt or onions? That ancient Egyptians used blocks of wood, ivory or stone for pillows? That very young Egyptian children wore no clothing at all? The cartoon-like illustrations are filled with authentic details. This is a well-researched book that will teach kids history while tickling their funny bones. 2000, Kids Can Press,
Parent Council Reviews
Join Josh, Emma, and Libby as they travel back in time with the Good Times Travel Agency. The comic book format and well researched facts blend together to make this story exciting, funny, and educational. Part of the "Good Times Travel Agency" series. 2000, Kids Can Press, $14.95. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: N. Robertson SOURCE: Parent Council Volume 8
School Library Journal
Gr 3-6-In these picture books, twins Josh and Emma Binkerton and their younger sister Libby are transported back in time after opening a travel guide about a specific historical period at the creepy, ramshackle Good Times Travel Agency, and the only way to get home is to read the book cover to cover. Each page features the siblings' ongoing story, cartoonlike illustrations with dialogue balloons, and yellowed guidebook pages that provide basic background information about the period. The stories are full of slapstick, but hold together well and involve readers. Though the plots are contrived to tie into the guidebooks, they don't seem forced and the flow is good. The guides are written in a breezy style, paying just enough attention to the grosser aspects of each civilization to help maintain interest. Slavin's sunny pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are packed with details. Kids are sure to devour these lively books.-Donna L. Scanlon, Lancaster Area Library, PA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Book Watch - Childrens Book Watch
Kids Can Press offers two outstanding, fervently recommended history titles for young readers (ages 8 to 12) in the "Good Times Travel Agency" series written by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Bill Slavin. Adventures In Ancient Egypt mixes fact and fiction for a fast, funny, fascinating examination of ancient Egypt when Josh, Emmaand Libby stumble into the Good Times Travel Agency and take a trip in time to land knee-deep in Nile mud. Josh is taken to work on building a pyramid. Emma and Libby go to look for him and encounter crocodiles, tomb robbers, and some very angry soldiers. The only way back to the present is by reading their guidebook -- every last word of it! In Adventures In The Middle Ages (540-9, $7.95) the kids are back again, this time for a time trip to medieval Europe where they become lowly peasant in the field, then overworked servants in a drafty castle. Things really fall apart when the castle is attacked and they must dodge flaming arrows and flying cows! Young readers will learn what life was really like 750 ago, with a gallery of facts about castles, knights, sieges, the feudal system and more!
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