The Kane Chronicles Book I: The Red Pyramid

By Rick Riordan

Published in 2010 (Hyperion)

516 pages – reading age 9+

Summary: Carter Kane was living with his father, Julius, after his mother had died. Carter and his father were traveling all over the world because of his dad’s work. Sadie, Carter’s younger sister, has been longing to travel with her father but she lives with her grandparents in England. One Christmas Eve, Julius takes Carter and Sadie to a museum where he starts writing on a precious artifact. Julius summoned an evil Egyptian god, Set, who banished Julius to the Duat (kind of a world between worlds). Carter and Sadie have to rescue their dad and along the way fight Egyptian gods, goddesses and creatures from Egyptian mythology.

This is book one of a new series from Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I liked this book because it had a lot of funny moments so when you thought it might be scary, it turned out to be funny. My favorite character was Khufu, a golden baboon that only eats things that end in “o” sound –like Doritos, burritos, Cherrios. He also can drive.

I learned a lot about Egyptian mythology. I liked the way the story was written because it switched back and forth from Carter and Sadie’s point of view. The story had some challenging words (like the Egyptian god names) that I had to look up or learn to pronounce, but I like it when I learn new words. 

I give the book 4 out of 5 book worms.

Categories: Age 9+, Good Books