Pharaoh: Life and Afterlife of a God Book

In Ancient Egypt, the pharaoh is the supreme ruler and overseer of every aspect of life—a living god. From the moment of his coronation, he is busy with the construction of elaborate temples, the conquering of foreign lands, and the creation of beautiful jewelry and art, all of which are done to worship the great Egyptian gods and to expand the pharaoh’s eternal legacy.

Yet Pharaoh is ever mindful of his eventual journey into the afterlife and his final transformation into a complete god. Through such funerary rites as embalming and organ removal, the pharaoh’s soul will move on to paradise, while his body remains on earth in one of his ornately decorated temples.

Full of fascinating, little-known details about Ancient Egypt all brought to life by David Kennett’s stunning graphic novel-style artwork, Pharaoh shines a jewel-toned light on the lives and afterlives of Seti I and Ramesses II—and the powerful civilizations they built.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6- Ably evoking the stately pace and monumental scale of a pharaoh's public life and works, Kennett pairs brief general accounts of Seti I's burial and of Egyptian society during the long reign of his renowned successor, Ramesses II, with hundreds of paintings of scenes and artifacts that range from near-full-spread to thumbnail in size. He uses a broad brush for figures and faces, but borders, friezes and other decorations, jewelry, statues, tools, motifs, patterns, and representations of the gods are more finely detailed. Each page presents a richly colored visual mélange that will draw viewers in and leave them with new insight into what those ancient cities and immense temples must have looked like 3300-plus years ago. Considering the huge number of other introductions to ancient Egypt currently available, this one is too generalized to be a first choice for assignment use, but its unusual slant makes it first-class enrichment material.-John Peters, New York Public Library