The Pyramid Plot

Usborne Puzzle Adventures #16

by Justin Somper, Peter Wingham (Illustrator)

These stories of adventure and mystery are interwoven with puzzles to solve, extra clues and answers are at the back.

Genres: Childrens, Puzzles

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Justin Somper is a bestselling UK author whose Vampirates books have been translated into over twenty languages. Justin trained in sword-fighting to help him write the fight scenes in the Vampirates series.

Reviews

[Jemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Pyramid Plot' is part of the series of Usborne Puzzle Adventures. I used to read these as a child a lot and when I found out they were available at my local library I couldn’t help dipping back in.

The story follows two kids whose father is an archaeologist and invites them to Egypt to join him on his dig. When they arrive, they realise something strange is going on regarding one of the nearby pyramids. There’s an ancient treasure trail and a bunch of crooks following it to find the historical artefacts. The kids want to find out the mystery of the pyramid once and for all.

I enjoyed this one, but then I always love anything to do with ancient Egypt! The codes and ciphers were complex but rewarding. The puzzles were a mixture of real thinkers and more obvious tests of the reader’s powers of observation. A cute puzzle adventure!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great interactive book to use in group reading with KS2 children. It has lots of questions and clues for children to solve throughout which would keep them engaged, along with the story being based around an Egyptian adventure. It has clear links with the study of Egypt in KS2, as it contains stories of pharaohs, mummies and hieroglyphics with extracts for children to translate to English as they become problem solvers themselves. This constant interaction with the book would be good for reluctant readers. It also has extracts from newspapers and letters which would link well with studying different types of writing. It also has maps for children to navigate, and this could be used alongside geography for children to create their own maps. The illustrations are bright and colourful, and the layout on many pages is similar to a storyboard so it provides a good model for children's own work. It's quite long, so it would have to be read over several sessions, and the text and illustrations are too small to study in enough detail to respond to the mini activities/questions if it was used as a whole class text, unless a visualiser was used. It is a fictional story, but it has elements of non-fiction with the subheadings, contents, index and some sections are based more on fact.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art, but ending disappointed me.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to love this book as a child. :)

[Marius B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved solving this book!

[Augusto Pellegrinetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

0.8

[Marcella Villi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ótimo para crianças e até adolescentes mais novos! Me ajudou muito a gostar de leitura apesar da hiperatividade! Tem várias missões pra ir fazendo ao longo da leitura. É um livro interativo!