Teaching Ancient Egypt Through Literature: You Wouldn’t Want to be a Pyramid Builder

pyramid bulider

You Wouldn't Want to be a Pyramid Builder by Jacqueline Morley with illustrations by David Antram is a one-of-a-kind book in the series You Wouldn't Want To Be.  This book takes children into the world of Ancient Egypt by putting them in the place of a slave during ancient times.  This engages children in a way that many books cannot.  The descriptive pictures and fascinating text teach children about life, society, and the pyramids of Ancient Egypt.

This book is a fun way to teach what can be a dull subject.  The more "icky" facts, such a embalming, are presented with a comic tone that children appreciate.  Overall the book does a wonderful job reflecting Ancient Egyptian culture and creating awareness that the pyramids were no easy feat to build.

Curriculum Connections

Not only is this a fun and informative book for both adults and kids it also has many classroom tie-ins.  The contributions of the Egyptians as well as their culture and social structure are presented in this wonderful book (2.1, 2.3).

Additional Resources

  • Ancient Egypt Fun provides a fun website for kids with many different games and activities that they can do to learn more about Ancient Egypt.
  • Tour Egypt is a tourism site for Egypt, but this is a special kids page.  It information on Ancient Egypt as well as modern Egypt.  It also includes activities and games.
  • Ancient Egypt Crafts provides many different arts and crafts activities for children, such as making a paper Pharaoh’s mask and making model pyramids.

 General Information

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