Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Vicky Alvear Schecter, Cleopatra Rules!: The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen. Pennsylvania: Boyds Mills Press, 2010, 128 pp.
ISBN
Genre
Biographies
Illustrated works
Target Audience
Young adults
Cover
We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.
Author of the Entry:
Agnieszka Maciejewska, University of Warsaw, agnieszka.maciejewska@student.uw.edu.pl
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Elżbieta Olechowska, University of Warsaw, elzbieta.olechowska@gmail.com
Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il
Vicky Alvear Shecter (Author)
Vicky Alvear Shecter dreamed of becoming an archeologist when she was a child. She became a writer instead. First, she wrote texts for corporations, banks and other companies, but she never gave up on her passion for the Antiquity. That love is reflected in her books. One of her first books was Alexander the Great Rocks the World (2006). It was appreciated by readers and critics and was added to the VOYA Honor Book for nonfiction and to the list of “25 Books all Georgia Children Should Read” list.
Soon after that success she wrote another book Cleopatra Rules! The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen. It also met with success and was added to the VOYA list.
Vicky’s other passion is sharing her knowledge, especially with children.
Sources:
Author’s website (accessed: Semptember 12, 2018)
Bio prepared by Agnieszka Maciejewska, University of Warsaw, agnieszka.maciejewska@student.uw.edu.pl
Summary
The book is divided into 11 chapters describing the life of Queen Cleopatra. Many parts of the book discuss the culture and religion of Ancient Egypt during Queen Cleopatra’s reign, and also Roman and Greek cultures. Religion rules in Ancient Egypt are being explained and how the religion worked and affected society, also it explains the social status of Egyptians and influence of Greek culture on Egypt in Hellenic period. Cleopatra Rules! also includes many illustrations: photos, reconstructions, and paintings. The narration leads a young reader through Cleopatra’s childhood and adult life until the final moments of her life and her death. Chapter endnotes, a timeline, a glossary, a bibliography, picture sources, and an index are provided in the appendix.
Analysis
The book consists of many various and attractive illustrations. Among these illustrations, we can find old pictures from the 19th–20th century, oil paintings from the early 19th century, and modern pictures of ancient monuments. A rich diversity of illustrations helps the reader understand how the image of Cleopatra changed throughout history and how strongly it lives in the audiovisual culture. It shows the variety and transformations of Cleopatra’s image through history and also a history of the creation of the stereotype pop culture image of her (oriental makeup and hairstyle). Another attractive aspect of this book is provided by funny headlines like A Bookish Nerd?, Holy Cow! or Love and Games 2.0. Humorous accent like this helps a young reader to absorb knowledge better and easier. Illustrations showing real historical places and content of the book are valuable and well prepared. Book has a strong didactic character.
There are also many fascinating historical details presented in attractive form through humour and pretty illustrations. Besides historical references to Cleopatra’s iconography such as first paintings or sculptures which are the oldest and primary image of her. Those images help to see the process of transformation of her image through the history and also how the myth of beautiful Cleopatra was created and how people from different times saw Queen Cleopatra. Book also consists of very clear explanations of ancient Greek and Latin terms. They make the tragic story of the Queen even more interesting for young readers.
