His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut

by Dorothy Sharp Carter

A fictionalized account of the life of Hatshepsut, a queen in ancient Egypt who declared herself king and ruled as such for more than twenty years.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Egypt, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Ancient History, Historical

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Dorothy Sharp Carter, who now lives in Austin, Texas spent many years in several countries of Central and South America where her husband was assigned as a Foreign Service officer. From this experience she gained a deep appreciation for Latin American literature and a desire to share with others, especially children, her fascination with the culture of the region.

Mrs. Carter is a graduate of Mill College in Oakland, California, and holds a master's degree in library science from the University of Texas at Austin. The Enchanted Orchard is her first book for children.

Reviews

[Emma Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT! Hatshepsut is a 14 year old girl who wants to become Pharaoh, she gets there with the help of semunt her loyal servant. Her home is in the dry sands of Egypt and the Nile river where she builds temples and monuments all over Egypt. Things get tough when her stepson thutmose the 3rd is eagerly awaiting to become ruler and he gets help from the priests and his teacher but is unsuccessful in trying to overthrow his stepmother. My favorite part is at the beginning of the book when Hatshepsut's maid is pulling her hair out and she keeps thinking of a way to get revenge for it. I would recommend you read this book because it gives good information about the time when Hatshepsut reigned and who knows you might really like it. Her is a quote from the book when Hatshepsut's maid is pulling out her hair (Hatshepsut speaking) "ow! You will pay for that one pig"!

[Olivia Margolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, SPOILER ALERT!


His Majesty Queen Hatshepsut is about Hatshepsut, a thirteen year old girl who becomes queen when she is fourteen. She is married to her husband Tutmose 2nd and had a daughter named . Her husband dies though. Hatshepsut wants to be as powerful and successful as all the other pharaohs, but people don't take her seriously because she is female. She proves to Egypt that she can be as great as all the other pharaohs. One day she meets Lord Senmut and falls in love with him. Hey become very close. In the end her daughter and Lord Senmut die. Hatshepsut also dies because of poision.

[Theoren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good book, (Way better than a Bone in a Dry Sea) but sometimes focused too much on Hatshepsut's experiance. Though it was also sad in the end when all of her friends and family died all around her making it very lonly for Pharaoh Hatshepsut...

[Jeremy Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever tried to imagine what it would be like to be a historical figure? This is exactly what His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut does. It is a fictional account of what it could have been like to be one of the only women Pharaohs of Egypt. It is written as if you are getting glimpses of life from the point of view of Hatshepsut herself.

It is very interesting to see Dorothy Sharp Carter put a more fleshed out and human picture of a historical figure. Carter portrays a Hatshepsut that is smart, confident, ambitious, and able to display a temper at times. It makes sense to portray Hatshepsut like this, because it would seem to take a women like that to try to claim the throne of Pharaoh in such a non-traditional way.

The book itself goes from when Hatshepsut was a young woman and ends with her death. It talks a little about her childhood and her father and about the politics of the Pharaoh's house. After this it goes to her marriage to her step-brother, Thutmose II, and his death at a fairly young age. The bulk of the book though is about her establishing her own reign and maintaining it over the years.

Now this description may not seem like it would make too intriguing of a book. Is it only a book going through the facts with little excitement or story behind the scenes? No, it's not like that, but this reality is both a great strength and weakness in the book.

The way that Dorothy Carter sets the story up is that Hatshepsut is up against her step-son and the priesthood who aren't happy about Hatshepsut's claim to the throne of Egypt. So they kind of function as her main antagonists in the story and try to humiliate her or even kill her at various times in the book. This makes it very interesting, but it does bring in some of weaknesses as well. The main one being that we really don't know if this is how it went down. There are some that think that Thutmose III didn't have quite the antagonistic attitude towards Hatshepsut that was portrayed in the book.

Now this isn't too big of a deal. This is, after all, speculative historical fiction. You just have to remember that, which can be hard to do since it seems that the author did a fair amount of research about ancient Egypt. Not everything here is complete fiction, but there are some things that are. Even those that are could be correct in a general sense, Thutmose III may have despised and sought to kill Hatshepsut, it is just uncertain. I had actually read an article that believed that she died of cancer due to the effects of the makeup she wore, and not, as the book portrays, poisoned as part of a plot against her.

There is one other thing that I disliked about the book. That was the fact that the characters all spoke using the old English thees and thous which was just kind of annoying. I don't understand why they couldn't have talked more normal and not so archaic. You could still be formal and not need to revert to Old English, particularly since ancient Egyptians wouldn't have spoken English anyway. Part of the reason why this may have bothered me so much was that I was reading it aloud to my kids. It just made the book sound rather awkward during those parts for no good reason.

Overall, His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut was an interesting book. It is both a book that is very informational, but also speculative and maintains this balance fairly well. As long as you remember that things may not have happened this way and that this is but an interpretation of the data, you'll probably enjoy the book quite a bit. It does have some minor annoying parts, but overall it was a solid book and goes really well with a study of ancient Egypt.

[SuperstarReviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book showed the dramatic account of Quen Hatshepsut. She starts out with good fortune, then slowly goes off the deep end. The only thing I do not love is the epilogue. It gave me Post Dramatic Book Disorder.

[Brenda Oberholtzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on a female pharaoh. It’s a great middle school historical fiction read. I think the characters could have been developed a bit more and the plot was kinda loose and rambly but overall it was informative and a good read.

[SuDee 13 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book twice in middle school & high school. (Late 80’s / early90’s) It captivated me. I’ve decided to read it again as an adult because it’s lived in my head ever since.

[Rain Misoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying Dorothy Sharp Carter really did her homework for the novel! I was quite impressed with how factual and indepth this book was. I knew from the beginning that this was a fictional telling of the life of Makare Hatshepsut. However, when I read it, I was shocked to see a lot of it was actual facts about the queen's life! I am very familiar with the details of the female pharaoh for I was very intrigued at a very young age (since I came across her by playing Carmen Sandiego) with how Egypt, who very seldom yield to a woman's thoughts, had possessed a female ruler for quite some time! It astounded me so I do know quite a bit about His Majesty. So when I stumbled upon this book and saw how accurate it was, I was simply amazed!

The main plot follows the life of Makare Hatshepsut and her many accomplishments she achieved during her reign. One of the accomplishments that goes into detail is her voyage to Punt which brough back myrrh trees and other goods back to the Two Lands. The way Carter wrote this story was absolutely beautiful! Her writing was very lyrical which fit since this is supposed to be a time of old. Some might find it hard to follow since it is in such a poetic form but to me, I found it to be that much more endearing! It added to the story and made it stand out from other tellings of this fascinating tale.

The characters were true to their time! Hatshepsut was very ruthless as all pharaohs were but she was also caring with the few people she felt close to; that being her daughter, Nefrure, and her chief advisor, Senmut. Nefrure was a very loving child, full of life and had an airness that brought light to the palace. Senmut, who was also her lover, was very loyal and intelligent whilst always being there for his queen. Some of his methods are questionable but he always had the best interest of Hatshepsut in his mind and heart. Thutmose III, her stepson, wasn't seen much but he did bare hatred towards the queen for being denied the throne for so long. He proved to be a very forminable foe. As you can see, I love the characters to this novel so much!

I cannot say enough how much I love this book! It measured up to my love for this very infamous pharaoh! I loved how Carter was able to gather all the facts about Hatshepsut and create such a marvelous tale about her life. The only reason this book gets a four out of five is if you know most of Makare Hatshepsut's life facts, there will not be much for you to learn. However, it is still worth the read for its educational purposes as well as its entertaining factors! Seriously, if you ever had an interest in Queen Hatshepsut or in ancient Egyptian life in general, then I truly do think this book is for you! Besides, nothing wrong with wanting to edumacate yourself, right?

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was well written, very factual, and it kept me interested. There was a lot to discuss and the story never got boring. I loved learning about Hatshepsut. I thought it could really teach someone about her life. I felt like I could somewhat connected to what she was feeling about her rights. I like how you could really get inside her head and you always knew how she was feeling. It gave the same, (and more) information about Hatshepsut that it would in a text book, but the book was 1,000 times more interesting to read. I liked hearing Hatshepsut's life from what was supposed to be her point of veiw.

I couldn't relate to the exact external conflicts she was having, but I knew internally what she was feeling. Also the book was easily enriched by background information. I wouldn't suggest this as a regular every day book, but it was fantastic for learning about Hatshepsut and ancient Egypt.

[Lori Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my kiddos, as we've been learning a lot about Ancient Egypt. It was certainly a very, very interesting book. Sometimes it felt a little tedious because the names were difficult to pronounce, etc. But all in all, it was both challenging and riveting and provided lots of opportunity for discussion regarding culture, religion, and history, as we weighed these against what we know to be Truth. I only give it four stars because I wouldn't say it's one I'd want to read again or with which I had any kind of emotional connection. And I would only recommend it to families who are aware that Queen Hatshepsut is very much a pagan and that, since this story is told from her point of view, her religion is presented as truth.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young adult book set in ancient Egypt with the story of the female pharoah Hatsheput. An excellent characterization of extraordinary female in a definite male centered society. The author's presentation of Hatsheput from her childhood to her reign was captivating. In addition the amount of accurate historical knowledge was quite pleasing to the reader, a retired World History teacher. I became accustomed to reading young adult and teen fiction when I was teaching to have books to recommend to my students. This book would definitely been included on my classroom bookshelf.

[Keegan Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this is one of the recommended books for the Egyptian unit. There is not that much known about Hatshepsut really and it was a very long time ago, so as far as the information the author had she probably did a good job with it. However, I couldn't help feeling that for such an interesting situation -- a woman who seizes the title of Pharoah in ancient Egypt and refuses to be a mere regent -- it was a bit boring. Hatshepsut just didn't interest me as much as I expected her to. So, I guess a bit interesting as far as the history, but a bit dull really as well.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting fictional follow-up to some heavier non-fictions reading. Carter does as decent job crafting setting and character. There are some themes in the novel that Independent readers may need guidance through.

[Nadia]

I read this book as a child who loved all things related to the ancient Egypt. This story stayed with me. Looking back on it, I see that I've always been intrigued by strong women in history. Here's Hatshepsut, a young woman taking on the role of a king, and undoing patriarchy in her own way.

[Patrick34 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good so far. It's about queen hatchepsut and ancient Egypt.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

His Majesty Queen Hatshesput is a book about a woman who became a pharaoh of Egypt. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn about history.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it for the setting, but found the characters and storyline rather uninspired.

[Adrianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it was 4th grade I last read this book and remember it being one of my favorites at the time.