Rereading: THE EGYPTIAN BOX by Jane Louise Curry

Cover art by Robert Crawford

Tee (Letitia) Woodie is not happy about her new life in the American Southwest. She and her family have moved there because an uncle has left them an antique shop, a video store, and a large stone house. Tee’s parents and brother Charles seem fine with it, and are fitting in, but Tee hates the heat, the desert atmosphere, her new school, the house, and just about everything.

Great-Uncle Sebastian, among the things in the antique shop, has left special gifts for everyone in the family, and Tee’s is an ancient Egyptian box containing a wooden figure called a shabti. In Egyptian lore, it was a servant for a royal person in the afterlife. Surprisingly, the shabti comes to life and seems to think Tee is a royal princess who it must serve. At first there are many difficulties, but Tee likes having the help with family chores, and teaches the magical creature to become more and more like her so it can even go to school for her while she stays home and reads and sleeps. But this turns out to be a bad idea when the shabti becomes so good at being Tee that it wants to take over for her completely.

Tee is not an appealing person at first, but the story is well told, and in time Tee is forced to learn hard lessons about herself, with help from her brother and the shabti. Recommended.

The post Rereading: THE EGYPTIAN BOX by Jane Louise Curry appeared first on Todd's Blog.