Mo has won a very special prize: an Ancient Egypt sleepover in a museum. However, he has no clue how dangerous it will turn out to be. With a mystery to solve, hieroglyphic codes to crack and priceless treasure to save, one thing is for sure: Mo will not be getting any sleep tonight!
Dan Harknett, teacher, wrote:Exciting, funny and clever. I read it in one gulp!
Scott Evans, the Reacher Teacher, wrote:Educational and utterly engaging. Perfect for Key Stage 2 classes studying Ancient Egypt
Paul Watson wrote:I can see The Ancient Egypt Sleepover being a brilliant book to use in the classroom when learning about Ancient Egypt
Emma Suffield wrote:Finding good books linked to the ancient civilizations is much harder than you think…This is a perfect read for Years 3 and 4
Books for Topics wrote:What a wonderful book. It reminded me of the film The Night at the Museum but it is even better! Full of facts about Ancient Egypt, this book is not only educational but funny, clever and full of mystery, and is perfect for any budding detectives out there, especially those who love museums and anything to do with Egypt/Egyptians
The Ancient Egypt Sleepover is a fast-paced, easy read adventure story that is bound to engage any reader interested in history and museums, especially those who would love the opportunity to sleep in a museum overnight!
Downloads for Teachers
Teaching Notes for The Ancient Egypt Sleepover: Download PDF
'Teach Primary' book topic on The Ancient Egypt Sleepover: Download PDF
The Story Behind the Book
My dreams of Ancient Egypt began at a young age. I grew up hearing stories about my nine-greats-grandfather Carsten Niebuhr, a mapmaker on the 1792 Danish expedition to Arabia Felix. Niebuhr spent a year in and around Cairo, exploring ancient ruins and transcribing the hieroglyphic inscriptions on tombs and obelisks. He never understood the mysterious symbols but his notebooks provided raw material for scholars who would later crack the hieroglyphic code. As a romantically inclined eight-year-old, I dreamed of one day roaming in deserts, exploring Nubian cities and studying ancient codes by flickering lamplight.
Thirty-five years later, the opportunity arose to visit Egypt as a jobbing author, thanks to Authors Abroad. I was invited to Cairo American College for a four-day programme of talks and creative writing workshops. Time did not allow for a trip to the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt, so like my ancestor the mapmaker I stayed put in Cairo and saw what I could there. I walked around the pyramids and goggled at the sphinx, my inner eight-year-old delirious with pleasure.
I returned from Cairo to London obsessed with all things ancient and Egyptian. I learned to read hieroglyphs and began to haunt the British Museum like a very tall, notebook-wielding spectre. I discovered that the museum occasionally hosts sleepovers in its Ancient Egyptian sculpture gallery, a thrilling opportunity for children and an absolute gift to an author of adventure fiction.
The idea dawned slowly. What if the Grand Egyptian Museum loaned the tomb treasures of King Tutankhamun to the British Museum for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, and what if they held a special sleepover to celebrate the opening of the exhibition, and what if the sleepover went suddenly and disastrously wrong?