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Summary
Summary
Serpot, ruler of a land where women live free, without men, leads her Amazon warriors in battle against Prince Pedikhons of Egypt, who has come to see for himself if women can equal men, even in battle. Includes notes about Assyrian and Egyptian culture and hieroglyphics. Ages 7-11 years.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-This exceedingly handsome book tells of the famous women warriors besieged by an Egyptian and Assyrian army. Their queen uses both craft (her sister infiltrates the camp) and valor against the enemy, and personally goes head-to-head with the prince. Their daylong combat begins with insults but ends with a declaration of love that, after sweaty hours of lethal opposition, must be based on character rather than beauty. Bower takes the tale from a Hellenistic scroll, adding a few details. (Since the figures are all posed in archaic profile/frontal combination, the question of the sacrificed breast doesn't arise; in any case, the queen fights with spear and shield, not bow.) Budding Egyptologists and archaeologists will be enthralled by the hieroglyphs on endpapers and many pages. There are splendid frescolike panels; other spreads provide a drawing, text, and hieroglyph version of that portion of the text printed in bold. The deceptively simple-looking outline drawings will encourage imitation, though Bower's elegant spareness and lapis/sienna colors will be hard to equal. Five pages of information (including map and book list) at the end explain the source and the system of hieroglyphic writing. Hours of educational pleasure are pretty much guaranteed.-Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With illustrations styled after ancient Assyrian and Egyptian art, Bower (The Shipwrecked Sailor) retells the story of Queen Serpot and her Amazon women who "lived free, without men." Serpot receives word of an imminent invasion by Prince Pedikhons and his Egyptian soldiers, and sends her sister, Ashteshyt, disguised as a man, into the Egyptian camp. A two-thirds page illustration depicts a cutaway view of the camp and the daily routines of the soldiers, from praying at the shrine of Khonsu to repairing chariots. The images unfold in spare, scroll-like panels. Ashteshyt returns with the essential information and the Amazons defeat the Egyptians, but when the prince challenges Serpot to single combat, it ends with a twist: "Prince Pedikhons looked at Queen Serpot and saw that she was his equal. And he did not know where on Earth he was, from the great love that entered into him." Serpot feels the same way. Both the literary and artistic styles emphasize this symmetry and equality. Bower provides detailed endnotes about the papyrus scroll from which this story comes, plus information about relevant myths and deities, as well as accessible explanations of the hieroglyphs and artistic symbols used. Because Bowers takes few liberties with translation, the narrative may at times feel stilted to readers; however, this is a strong introduction to ancient Egyptian culture and mythology with a message of equality as modern as they come. Ages 7-11. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Sparely retelling an episode from an ancient story-cycle, Bower recounts how Amazonian Queen Serpot and Egyptian Prince Pedikhons bravely fought hand-to-hand until sundown, when ""great love"" for the other entered each of them, resulting in an alliance. The bordered illustrations and the decoded hieroglyphs and symbols on each page, explanations of which conclude the volume, are noteworthy. Reading list. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
As in her Shipwrecked Sailor (2000), Bower gives a little-known ancient tale fresh life without robbing it of its distinctive cultural milieu. Peeved to no end when his troops are thrown back by an army of women, Prince Pedikhons challenges their queen, Serpot, to single combat. A trained museum illustrator who has worked at several archeological sites, Bower draws expertly on ancient Egyptian visual conventions and styles to depict the climactic encounter and its prelude. She paints a set of mural-like scenes and adds lines of hieroglyphics with both phonetic transcriptions and English translations on every page. As if that's not enough, she closes with detailed notes on the tale's likely historical basis and on the various styles of ancient Egyptian writing. Not, however, that this is all about pedagogy: Having battled each other until sunset, Serpot and Pedikhons proceed to fall dizzily in love, then go off together to conquer India. A rare tale, as enjoyable for its authoritative, scholarly appurtenances as for its vivid retelling. (bibliography) (Picture book/folktale. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-7. In ancient Assyria, Queen Serpot rules in a place where "Amazon women lived free without men." When an Egyptian army approaches, she sends out scouts to assess the enemy, plans the strategy, and battles the Egyptian prince Pedikhons mano a mano0 . Darkness finally interrupts their long, grueling fight; they put down their arms, recognize each other as equals (and lovers), and join forces. Taken from a fragment in an ancient myth known as the Story-0 Cycle of King Petubast, this retelling focuses on facts with only the thinnest hint of passion. Inspired by Egyptian and Assyrian art, the striking watercolor-and-gouache illustrations emulate ancient reliefs and feature rich, saturated earth colors. On most pages, a passage has also been written in clear, attractive hieroglyphs. Excellent appended notes provide historical background and information about the hieroglyphs and symbols; a bibliography rounds out the book. This slender offering will enrich ancient-civilization collections and attract budding Egyptologists as well. --Linda Perkins Copyright 2005 Booklist
