The Egypt Game

"Sometimes a book is daringly original for its time but in retrospect comes across as merely bland. I'm sure that in 1967, a novel about 6 ethnically diverse kids practicing pseudo Egyptian rituals in a ramshackle junkyard must have seemed very cutting edge, but it now feels hopelessly dated. First, Snyder's awkward need to mention the nonwhite kids' ethnicity ("Kevin was all Asian American"..."the Ross's are African American...that's okay, I knew black people in L.A.") is grating; it also makes it clear that white is the norm and any other ethnicity has to be "explained". Second, despite Snyder's best efforts, some stereotyping sneaks in. Elizabeth the Chinese girl is tiny and doll-like, while in a flashback we learn that a character's loved one was murdered in an uprising in some benighted unnamed 3rd world country, "by the very people she was trying to help". Ouch.<br/><br/>The inclusion of a serial child killer undoubtedly landed this book on some banned lists, (along with the faux sorcery), but what made me squirm was the all too common equating of mental illness with violence. It's hard to know how to present this material to a 6th grade audience, but surely there are better ways than this.<br/><br/>Points for creativity and the celebration of childhood imagination, (although why were the 2 boys allowed to take over the leadership in a story that had up to then been mostly about 2 girls?)<br/><br/>Definitely a meh."

"The first chapter was intriguing, but then it changed perspective, and the narrative became slow and tedious. I was hoping it would go more into Ancient Egypt mythology."

"This was the book that helped me realize i liked books back in 2009 as a 12 year old :)"