We're Sailing Down the Nile

This is book is a sing song, rhyming invitation to enter the historic and the present day world of the Egyptians. As you travel in a boat down the Nile, you encounter familiar historic landmarks, but also meet new contemporary features of society today. For example, you get to visit a Marketplace called Sharia as-Souq, and a park called Kitchener's Island are enjoyed by modern Egyptians. In addition, the modern city of Cairo resembles New York City with its huge population and its high reaching sky scrapers.

I feel like meeting these modern aspects of Egypt is extremely important, as our students typically only learn about ancient Egypt. Even as an adult, I still feel disconnected from many Middle Eastern countries because I feel like their is a gap between our worlds not only in space, but in time.

After the story, many supplementary materials are offered on Egyptian culture. The Map of the country, in proximity to the Mediterranean, Israel, and Jordan is shown, with many of the destinations from the story displayed with over sized pictures and symbols. A list of facts of each landmark is offered, describing recent events as well as modern uses of each. Then, the book offers a historical look at each period of Egypt, starting with the Early Dynastic (3000-2575 BC) to the Late period (664-332 BC). An outline of the social hierarchy of Egypt followed by job descriptions of Ancient Egyptians. Several other informational pieces are included, which makes this book an excellent picture book for a read aloud and then left in the classroom for extended research for students who were interested. As second grade is when students will be studying the ancient civilizations, I believe this book would be beneficial to teachers in this grade, as well as any other who thinks their students would be interested in the subject.