The Egypt Game facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Zilpha Keatley Snyder |
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| Publisher | Atheneum |
The Egypt Game is a popular novel written by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. It was published in 1967 and won a Newbery Honor award. The story takes place in a small college town in California. It's all about how a group of six children create and play an amazing imaginary game together.
Contents
The Story of The Egypt Game
How the Game Began
The story starts with a girl named April Hall. Her mom is a rising film actress, and April is sent to live with her grandmother in an old apartment building in Berkeley, California. April feels a bit sad and lonely, so she acts tough and uses fancy Hollywood words to hide her feelings.
Her grandmother helps her meet the neighbors, Melanie and Marshall Ross. The three kids quickly become friends because they love playing "imagining games." They also share a big interest in archaeology, which is the study of old things.
April also explores a nearby antique shop. It's run by a quiet and a bit mysterious old man known as The Professor. In the shop's storage yard, the girls find a copy of a famous statue of Nefertiti, an ancient Egyptian queen. This discovery gives them a great idea: they decide to create a long-running imaginary game about Ancient Egypt.
Playing the Egypt Game
The children start learning all about Ancient Egyptian beliefs and customs. They even create their own special ceremonies to make their game feel real. Soon, another girl named Elizabeth Chung joins them. She is nine years old and Chinese American, and the others think she looks a bit like a young Nefertiti.
On Halloween night, the kids sneak away from their trick or treat group. They want to go back to their secret Egypt game spot. But their classmates, Toby Alvillar and Ken Kamata, find them. Melanie and April worry that Toby and Ken will ruin everything. However, Elizabeth bravely invites them to join the game, as long as they promise to keep it a secret. Ken isn't very excited at first, but Toby is fascinated. He quickly brings new ideas and materials to make the game even better.
A Time of Worry
One day, a little girl from the neighborhood disappears. Later, she is found to have been harmed. This is the second such event in a year, and it makes everyone in the area very worried. For several weeks, all the children are told to stay inside for their safety.
When they are finally allowed to play outside again, the "Egyptians" create an oracle. This oracle is connected to Thoth, an ancient Egyptian god of wisdom. They ask it questions, and some of the answers they get make them feel uneasy. A series of strange things happen, making them wonder if they should stop playing the game completely.
The Secret Revealed
One night, April goes back to Egypt alone to get a schoolbook she left behind. While she is there, she is attacked by the person responsible for the earlier events. The Professor, who runs the antique shop, sees the attack. He quickly breaks his back window and shouts for help.
Afterward, The Professor tells the children that he had been watching their game the whole time. He was very interested in how they used and recreated Egyptian myths and history. He explains that he became very private after his wife passed away.
The children feel that their game can't continue because its important secret is now out. But the book ends with April suggesting they could start a new game, perhaps about Gypsies.
What Came Next?
Zilpha Keatley Snyder wrote another book that continues the story. It's called The Gypsy Game and was published in 1997.
A person who studies games, Cathlena Martin, has pointed out that The Egypt Game might have even influenced how role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons (which came out in 1974) were designed.
