Pyramid Boy
Satoshi Kitamura
Walker Books

This book takes us back in time to ancient Egypt and is narrated by a boy, Thomas, who time travels when he attempts to catch hold of a cat when in a museum he’s visiting with his parents. The next thing he knows is that he’s plunging down a long zigzag of stairs to a busy market in a strange hot place. In this market swapping replaces money and as he wanders around a young man calls to him, fascinated by Thomas’s glasses, which he mistakes for large eyes. The young man introduces himself as Pepi and offers to show him around.

They visit a papyrus factory, see scribes at work, go to a bakery and then deliver some papyrus bundles to Pepi’s friend. Later, walking along on the river bank Pepi takes his new friend to see how a mummy is made.

After an overnight stay with Pepi they join a long line of young people on their way to where the pyramids are being built and help with the work.
Eventually a man comes to find Thomas and the boy discovers that what seems like days has only been a few hours since he followed that cat.

A captivating combination of adventure and history, vibrantly illustrated with amazing detail and with additional information pages after the story and a smashing way to introduce Ancient Egypt to children, particularly those in KS2 who are studying the topic as an option in the history curriculum.