Dave Phillips (3) (1951–)

This is advertised as a children's book with 36 pages of mazes and adventures, where you learn about Ancient Egypt, the people, places, culture and artifcats, while you have fun solving the puzzle and getting to the centre of the maze to collect your treasure.

The introduction states 'with pateince you will solve every maze': okay, maybe I'm a little impatient, maybe after more than 15 minutes on the same maze, retracing my streps and starting again and again and again, I do tend to get a little fidgety. But so, I imagine, would the average child - mine certainly did, and found this book boring because it was too hard.

On refelection, I agree with them, and - maybe because we were impatient - we did not solve a single maze. Of course, it might be that I just suck at mazes, or even that I am pretty thick and can be easily out-mazed even by young kids. Whatever, despite having studied Egyptology at University and so having some slight interest in the subject, this book did not do it for me - or my children.

The black and white line drawings are masterful examples of linear, geometric precision, but they contain neither imagination nor humour - those two elements so essential to the enjoyment of any book, but particualrly for one desined for youngsters.… (más)