Pharaoh's Daughter: A Novel of Ancient Egypt

Julius Lester, a distinguished African-American writer best known for his Newbery Honor Book To Be a Slave, startled the literary world in 1981 by converting to Judaism. In Pharaoh's Daughter he follows the time-honored Jewish tradition of Midrash--a way of exploring a sacred text through the use of one's imagination. Armed with an impressive knowledge of the Hebrew language and the history of ancient Egypt, he jolts us out of our expectations and brings a fresh and richly detailed perspective to the Exodus. As Moses flees with his father's blessing--"You must go and come back and teach us all to be free"--we can only hope that Julius Lester plans to tell the rest of the story. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

Product Description

In ancient Egypt, there lives a girl named Almah who will do anything to ensure the safety of her baby brother, Mosis.

She will leave her enslaved family and assume the role of Egyptian princess. She will change her identity if it means winning health and freedom for her brother.

Mosis, however, does not feel completely free. His identity has been changed against his will, and he longs to find himself. And when he does, he will do anything in his power to see that justice is served.

Julius Lester does some very good things in this novel: he stays true to the Bible AND somes as close as he can to presenting the actual historical period. When reading the author's notes at the end of the book, he explains some of the things he included (or avoided including) to make the book as historically accurate as possible. I also very much like the "God is orchestrating things; He has a plan" theme that runs through the book. It believe it would lead to some very good theological discussions. The rivalry (and reasons behind it) are revealed so that the Biblical story of Moses is put in an easily imaginable historical context. Finally, Lester's characters are highly developed and quite interesting.

Although this book is excellent for may reasons, I have decided against assigning to my students (5th) in the Lutheran school I teach in. One reason is that one of the main characters (a twelve-year-old) talks about her breasts too much for the boys I teach to feel comfortalbe with. Futhermore, being a male teacher, I don't think either the girls or I would feel comfortable reading such passages aloud in class. I know that as girls become women, the size of their breasts are important to them, but it seems as if the majority of the young adult novels I read need to have the main character harp on her breast size and her menstrul cycle. I'm sure Judy Blume is happy to see that so many current young adult novel authors have been influenced by her, but in following in Judy Blume's footsteps, authors tend to create a lot of books that teacher and his class can't read. I digress, however. Lester puts the breast-talk in a historical context; Almah discusses her breasts in such a way as to illustrate her maturity, her love for the sun, and her beauty. She is also naked (sometimes dancing naked) at some points in the book. If there were some passing references to her sexuality (or replace sexuality with beauty), the book would have been fine, but as it is, I would not assign it to my junior high students.


awful   June 11, 2000
8 out of 14 found this review helpful

I really expected better. This was a horrible book. The main character, who you are supposed to sympathize with, loves the man who enslaves her own family like a father, and ridicules her mother for not wanting to be served on by slaves. Julius Lester was trying so hard to look at things from an unusual viewpoint that he turns the Pharoah into a kind, wise man, a girl who turns her back on the suffering of her family and her people for a life of luxury into a heroine, and the Jewish slaves into crazy, prejudiced people. Honestly!


Home School Book Review -- Ancient Egypt   July 11, 2006
Khyraen (CA, USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Bible does not name the sister of Moses who watched him while he hid in a basket on the Nile, but the Hebrew word used describes a woman of marriageable age. Could Moses have had another sister? Julius Lester uses the viewpoint of this imagined--but very possible--sister to tell the story of the Habiru (Hebrew) and Khemetian (Egyptian) peoples during the time of Mosis' (Moses') upbringing in the court of Ramesses II.

The author uses ancient Egyptian and Hebrew words and names whenever possible to remove images of The Ten Commandments and Prince of Egypt from readers' minds. He asks us to consider that the story we've been told was from the view-point of the Hebrews, embittered by years of slavery; he asks us to consider the Egyptians anew.

The author attempts to give an historically accurate view of the New Kingdom of Egypt. In order to keep the story as authentic as possible, he has Mosis speak in an unusual way, attempting to create his "heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue" description from the Old Testament.

Stories are even more subtle than non-fiction and evoke even more emotion and can therefore be even more persuasive, especially to young minds that have not moved into the final stages of development, so this book should only be read by children who have entered the third and final stage of mental development (as discussed in _The Well-Trained Mind_.)

To Christian parents, this is a Biblical story told from a non-Biblical perspective. The point-of-view for most of the book is Mosis' sister, Almah, who embraces the gods and goddesses of Egypt, even becoming a priestess of Hathor. There is nudity in religious circumstances and lust is discussed briefly. Many characters argue in favor of many gods and the strongest believer in Ya (the Biblical God) is portrayed in a negative light.

Despite all the possible drawbacks, this book shines fresh light on the struggles Moses and his family must have gone through in his early life. It is also a great discussion starter. Have your mature thirteen or fourteen year old child read this along with a study on ancient Egypt, then discuss family relationships, different viewpoints (is one always right and one always wrong), can a god meet a woman's needs (or does she need a goddess to understand her), etc.

The author includes an author's note and a glossary in the back of the book. Read the glossary BEFORE you read the book; save the author's note for afterwards. In the author's note, Lester explains his purpose, some of the efforts he went through to be accurate historically, and the textual reasons he made some of the decisions he made. Very informative.

Summary: Mosis' part in the dialog may make this book seem poorly developed or for a younger age group at first--until you realize that Mosis is supposed to speak poorly and it is intentional. Instead, this is a great story told in an engaging way from a refreshing viewpoint which I recommend, but only for mature thirteen year olds and older. A sort of _The Red Tent_ for teenagers, without all the sexuality. This book touched me and I became misty-eyed towards the end.


A Summary on Pharaoh's Daughter a stoy of Ancient Egypt   March 9, 2001
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

When I first started to read this book I thought it would be more historical. It did give you some information but it also had a story plot to it which made the story so much more interesting to me. Almah, the main person, was a well developed person who loves adventure. Almah has a baby brother who eventually is called Mosis. Much of the ook was deciding wheter or not he wanted to stay with the Haribu, his people, or the people in the palace his adapative family. In the end Mosis makes his decision. I think that the book was well written and very informative. I think that most kids, teachers, and parents would like this book. I liked a lot on a scale 1-10 10 being the highest a would give it a 9.5. Pharaoh's Daughter was extemerly interesting I think everyone should read.


The Pharaoh's Daughter ( a Story that was never revealed bef   June 3, 2002
Julie Cho Period2 (Cerritos, CA USA)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

I got to read the book by reading its cover and I thought it was interesting so I bought the book and after I read it, I was amazed about the other part of Moses's family that no one else shared to the world.
The Pharaoh's Daughter was about Moses's sister, Almah, and she had always wished to be royal, without worrying about chores and babysitting her little brothers and sister. Then, the Egyptian soldiers planned on taking away all of the Hebrew baby boys and planned on feeding it to the alligators. Almah's family's only baby son, Yekutiel, wasn't planned on getting fed by alligators, so when the Egyptian soldiers started to evade the houses, Almah's family ran to hide Yekutiel in the safe bushes. Almah ran to look for a good hiding place and that was when her life changed. She had ran into an Egyptian princess and had dragged her into her Hebrew home and the princess's gratitude changed her Hebrew life. Princess Meryetamun decided to keep Yekutiel and named it after a god,Thutmosis, to protect Moses from the evil Queen Asetnefret. That was when, ALmah was addicted to royal and palace life. She met the king and was welcomed as a second daughter in the palace. Then, Almah actually became the daughter of King Ramesses and Princess Meryetamun became the daughter of Abba and Ima, Almah's parents.
I liked the book because it had another part of Moses's story that no one knew about and when I read it, I was so involved in the story that I read it more than 3 times! It was a brave and challenging story and that was what made me so inspired to read it more, I couldn't stop because I was too addicted pause at least one second!