Margaret Leighton (1)

It was really great to get a chance to reread this book again; I was able to pin down some of the things that this book did well. In some ways, it almost seems tailor-made for me as a fourth-grader and is a book that I can certainly imagine other kids would find interesting.

The reader spends nearly half of the book in the early years of Cleopatra's life, the time before she met Caesar in the famous rug incident. It's actually a really smart move on the author's part, as the reader gets to know Cleopatra when she is around the age of the target audience. I remember reading this book as a young girl and feeling like I could relate to a lot of the things the young Cleopatra was experiencing - maturing, teasing, finding a love of learning, and learning how to navigate in the world of adults. It left me with a very personal connection, and the obsession that I have today.

The other half of the book focuses on the rest of her life, her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. The more salacious details are glossed over to keep it age-appropriate, and the complex politics of the ancient world are also streamlined. A good foundation is laid, though, if the reader decides to continue researching the story further.

As far as accuracy is concerned, there are a few details here and there that are incorrect, but Ms. Leighton states in the author's note that her primary resource for Cleopatra's life was the biography written in 1931 by Arthur Weigall. Archaeology has come quite a ways since then. Along the same lines, some of the names used are extremely dated. (Isis-Aphrodite, Zeus-Ammon.)That being said, Ms. Leighton does do a wonderful job of filling in the sparse details of Cleopatra's early life. The reader is given enough details to picture the palace, its surroundings and its inhabitants, but there are very few unnecessary details.

Cleopatra herself can come across as rather spoiled or self-centered sometimes, but nowhere near the level of George Bernard Shaw's version. She can also sound very sheltered at times, and the cynic in me can't help but wonder if that was even possible if one was to survive in the Ptolemaic court. That being said, she can also be very proud and headstrong, and overall reads as a very human person instead of a rigid historical character.

I will always have a very sentimental attachment to his book, but I would also recommend it to young people looking for an introduction to Cleopatra and her world. It's not just a dry recap of facts, but a book that paints a very human portrait of Cleopatra, especially in regard to her younger years.… (altro)