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Sesha must race to find a priceless scroll before time runs out.
After a brutal fire takes their parents' lives, Sesha and Ky, children of the pharaoh's royal physician, are left charming snakes and stealing food to survive. Unsure of who to trust, the pair are found and brought back to the palace, where the pharaoh tasks Sesha with finding a rare medical document her father was transcribing. But are the royals hiding something?
Befriended by a fellow scribe and a young princess, Sesha navigates palace intrigue and temple treachery while urgently seeking the valuable papyrus. For the scroll doesn't just have the power to keep the pharaoh's army alive and reveal the secrets around her parents' death — it may be the only thing that can save Ky's life.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
January 25, 2020 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781459744318
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781459744318
- File size: 1756 KB
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 800
- Text Difficulty: 3-4
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Reviews
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In this series opener set in ancient Egypt, a girl seeks a missing scroll she believes may help save her brother's life and explain the fire that killed their parents. Since the siblings escaped the tragedy, 13-year-old Sesha has been charming a cobra to divert shop owners while younger brother Ky steals food. When they are caught and taken to the pharaoh's palace, they're recognized as the children of the late Chief Physician, and Sesha is charged with the task of finding a scroll lost ever since the fire. Uncertain whom to trust, Sesha is guarded in her search. Already literate and medically knowledgeable, she is accepted as a medical scribe trainee. Befriended by Princess Merat, she acquires allies among her fellow trainees and the handmaidens she's billeted with, who appreciate her medical skill. But her searches lead nowhere; meanwhile, time is running out for Ky who urgently needs the surgery the scroll describes. Pharaoh and his advisers are worried, too: The harvest is failing, and with the Hyksos invaders established in the north, Thebes is threatened. After an awkward opening, the story slowly comes to life, gaining momentum as the plot thickens, the circle of suspects, allies, and enemies widens, and Sesha's desperate search expands to the necropolis, a city of massive tombs. Vivid, deftly integrated historical detail about this tumultuous, fascinating era helps compensate for the somewhat stock characters. A satisfying adventure for ancient Egypt's many fans. (author's note) (Historical adventure. 9-13)
COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)
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