There's a Pharaoh in Our Bath!

by Jeremy Strong

Tony Lightspeed is always bringing home sick and injured animals, so when he turns up with an ancient Egyptian pharaoh his family isn't too surprised.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Humor, Comedy, Fantasy, British Literature, School

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Bohdan Horbai]

Хоча для мене ця книга Стронга із перекладених видається найменш цікавою, вона також дуже і дуже) Тут трохи стародавнього Єгипту, дивних вподобань малих міленіалів та історія перемоги над злом, приправлена гумором. Я не знаю як Стронгу вдалося сполучити такі різні речі) Тим, хто збирає колекцію!

[Molly]

Read this with the kids. So pissed how dirty they did professor grimstone and jelly

[Maria Menduni]

Godevole, divertente per i bambini.

[Chiara Polimeni]

Sono sincera, questa è la prima volta che comincio una recensione senza avere le parole per farlo. Sarebbe semplice dire che questo breve libro, essendo un vecchio racconto della casa editrice “Il Battello a Vapore”, è una favola per bambini e che quindi è scritta come tale. Non ci sono grosse descrizioni, o meglio il giusto per lasciare al bambino la fantasia di immaginare i personaggi che si muovono nell’ambiente.
Ma se lo paragoniamo allo stile di scrittura di altre favole che ho letto ultimamente, allora ovviamente perde un po’. Saranno i soli dodici velocissimi capitoli, saranno i caratteri cubitali della pagine o i disegni, ma è evidente che è scritto per i bambini più piccoli; quelli che incominciano a saper leggere e vogliono immergersi in una storia divertente.

La narrazione, ovviamente, come ogni favola, vede un narratore onnisciente che conosce tutto e che balza dalle vicende del faraone a casa della famiglia Furetto, a quelle dei due malviventi che lo hanno risvegliato.
È una storia semplice, che mi ha ricordato molto i film che vedevamo da ragazzini per Halloween. Anzi, per ironia, la trama di questo libro del 1999 ricorda molto un film uscito su Disney+ nel 2021 intitolato “Halloween con la mummia”. Chissà se i registi del film si sono ispirati a questa favola.

Lo so, è stupido leggere e soprattutto recensire un libro per bambini, ma quando l’ho ritrovato in cantina mi sono ricordata della mia infanzia e non ne ho potuto fare a meno. In fondo la lettura è lettura, anche quando si tratta di una fiaba, di un fumetto o di un breve racconto. Anzi se devo essere del tutto onesta ricordavo davvero poco di questa storia ed è stato curioso vedere le somiglianze con quel film (sopracitato) che invece ho visto qualche anno fa in piattaforma. Com’è stato particolarmente divertente da un lato e irritante dall’altro vedere come io (o anche mio fratello) non riuscivamo a tenere le mani ferme e abbiamo giustamente colorato con i pennarelli tutti i poveri disegni del libro (devo ammetterlo stavo già abbastanza dentro ai bordi).
In ogni caso, ovviamente, non è un libro che consiglio; innanzi tutto perché non saprei nemmeno dove lo potreste trovare (forse in qualche vecchia biblioteca) e poi perché di certo è più adatto ai vostri figli più piccoli piuttosto che a voi.

[Matthew Eyre]

Many, many many years ago Jeremy Strong came to the school where I taught and read some of his stories. He explained his aim was to go full time, at that time he also did some teaching. I thought then, if he can't make it- what justice? For he was a superb entertainer and in the long long years since he has kept up a continually high standard, aided by the equally excellent Nick Sharratt on illo's! In this mad cap adventure two stock villains aim to steal a priceless ancient Egyptian treasure only to find that due to a misread spell a few thousand years ago, the pharaoh is in fact not dead. He staggers out of the museum and bumps into an ice cream man who promptly takes him home for a wash and brush up- as you do. Whenever I did this with my class, the room would resound with WORM for weeks afterwards. If there was an honours system for children's authors Jemery Strong would be the Duke of Devastation, it always goes wrong in JSLand!

[Becky]

read prior to starting this with my class tomorrow

[Lauren Drake]

Year 3 class text linked to their Ancient Egyptians topic.

[Maya Glinkowska]

I want to read it

[Giorgia Virelli]

Super carino per un pubblico giovane

[Honor]

Blast from the past but my class loved it and it's jokes.

[Kirsten]

This was one of my all-time favourites when I was a tot. I still love Rustbucket and Crusher of Worms. :)

[Lewis Sloan]

It's ok, trying to hard to be funny.

[Grace Sargeant]

It was really funny and would recommend.

[Чі]

Класна книга !👼

[Alex]

A highly amusing short read aimed at children, skillfully mixing humour and facts together to create a hilarious and gripping story.

[Lia Phillips]

A class of Year 3 children who thoroughly enjoyed reading 'There's A Pharaoh In Our Bath' by Jeremy Strong together wrote their own reviews of the book, which were overwhelmingly positive. Five students with particularly insightful opinions shared their thoughts, which will hopefully inspire future readers of all ages to experience this fantastic story!

Child 1:
Gave it 5* ‘because it is funny, scary and a mystery that needs to be solved’, describing the story as ‘magical’.

Child 2:
Gave it 4* and said that not only did they enjoy it, but interestingly that ‘an adult would like it’ too. This is absolutely true!

Child 3:
Gave it 4.5*. ‘I loved all the comedy and how the Pharaoh is 4,000 years old but looking good’. Especially the part when ‘Sennapod was unleashed on the world’.

Child 4:
Also thought the book deserved 4.5* ‘because it has lots of description and it’s really funny’.

Child 5:
Another 4.5* ‘because it’s very good’. However, this student thought it could be even better ‘if it gave a bit more description about Grimstone and Jelly’.

[Alan Forbes]

Pharaoh Sennapod, mummified in a mystical coma for over four thousand years, is brought back to consciousness in the modern day by two Egyptologists who are after his map to buried treasure.

This is a fun and lively book but lacks any real depth. Whereas other books for children do feature quite expansive narratives, rich uses of language and multi-faceted characters, There’s a Pharaoh in our Bath does not. What it does do is create opportunities for children to learn some things about Ancient Egypt, which is a recommended historic topic on the National Curriculum. Sennapod as a character could be used effectively as a stimulus for explorative learning, researching other (real) pharaohs either in the library or in ICT and learning about life in ancient Egypt. Children could learn about hieroglyphics by creating their own version of Sennapod’s treasure map.

[June]

I felt like there's Pharaoh in my house. And it was funny that he talked like real Pharaoh.(I know he is real but it is quiet weird when he is in your house!!) I didn't like that bad guys because they tried to get the Pharaoh and they did really bad things. I picked this book because it looked interesting, I love funny stories and I loved that drawing. (pictures in the book!) I thought about 'how the Pharaoh alive again?, If he did really alive, then how could he thinks?, But he doesn't have his brain!'. I thought that Pharaoh's way of speaking. It was little funny! So I want to see that book again if I can.

[Katy W]

We played the audiobook on a long car journey and succeeded in entertaining all ages.

[Julie]

A fun read about an Egyptian Pharaoh who comes back to life after 4000 years. Read as I want to use this with my class for our Egyptian topic.

[Julie Booth]

A fun read and my son is learning about Egypt so enjoyed i

[Casey Lange]

It's like 2001 a Space Odyssey for kids