You Wouldn't Want to Be Cleopatra! (Revised Edition) (You Wouldn't Want to…: Ancient Civilization)

The Danger Zone

by Jim Pipe, David Antram (Illustrations)

Get ready . . . you're a princess born into the Egyptian royal family. But it's not easy living in the palace.

From family betrayals to Roman generals, you will discover it's not easy being Cleopatra! Find out all about the eventful life, great loves, and tragic fate of the most famous of all Egyptian queens.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Egypt, Historical, Ancient History, Geography

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Jim Pipe studied Ancient & Modern History at Oxford University, then spent ten years in publishing before becoming a full-time writer. He has written numerous non-fiction books for children, many on historical subjects. He lives in Dublin, Ireland, with his lovely wife Melissa and his twin sons.

Reviews

[Set · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so looking forward to it to this book because Cleopatra is our Greek Pharaoh and all the other Pharaohs are so different, she was also the last Pharaoh in the dynasty. I am so disappointed that I have to give this book a one star. Cleopatra is from the Greek line of Ptolemy. The illustrator should have taken a look at the actual statues of Cleopatra to have a better understanding of her facial features. And there is also written descriptions of Cleo that the illustrator should have taken into account. In this book, Cleopatra doesn't look Greek or Egyptian. According to this book, Cleo wasn't a good looking girl because she had a hooked nose. Are you serious? Greeks have a hooked nose and they are not bad looking. Not only that but the illustrator made her ugly when in reality Cleo was so beautiful and had beautiful children with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. So, you are telling me that the leader of the known world and the general of an imperial army got with an ugly girl and had ugly children when they could get with anyone in the entire world? Please, what an insult to the human intelligence.
This is what the illustrator made her look like-

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids were excited to find a bunch more of these type of books at the library today. 6/15/15

[Ravenne Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering Cleopatra is one of my favorite subjects to study, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
You play Cleopatra, a young female who father is a hated pharaoh and runs away from his country. You live in luxury and once your brother is born, you marry him and become a queen. You go through wars and become a famous queen of Egypt and go through battles and wars with your lovers at your side. But you suffer a tragic death because your romance, is severed because Marc Anthony has been killed.
I'd recommend this book to people who want to study Cleopatra because it gives a clear understanding of her life.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment....a very honest look at the history of Egypt's most famous female ruler, Cleopatra.
Learn about Egyptian cultures, deities, History, the cool influences and practices that Cleopatra used to keep peace, get a husband, stay on top, etc.

All of this and more...and if you're sweating in the Egypt sun, have a bath in scented horse milk.

[Anneke Alnatour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleopatra was really something else.
Had sometimes a hard time keeping my child engaged, because the information was pretty dense (who she married again, her boyfriend?) but there were other tidbits that stuck with him.

Gotta admit: I do not know much about Cleopatra, so almost all information was new to me, so cannot really say how accurate the facts in this book are. It was interesting enough though.

[Christina Pilkington · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, well illustrated book about the life of Cleopatra with a nice variety of funny and interesting facts.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great illustrations and some of them were fantastically hilarious, like the mom with the squalling kids.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard times for royalty. Also, thought Cleopatra was supposed to be gorgeous...

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. Nice drawings. Love the little tips and tricks boxes on every page. Going to read the other books in this series as well. Recommending this for children.

[Laura The Book Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love all the "You Wouldn't Want to Be..." books

[Klinton Saha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't enjoy like other books of the series.Also illustrations are not enjoyable.

[William Razavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the artwork and the humor here. This is a fun way to introduce history, but as always with stuff like this so much gets lost in the simplifications. And of course, there are the occasional whoppers. In this case it was a line that said that Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus were friends. They were decidedly never friends. Also it's a little misleadingly vague when trying to briefly account for what happened with Cleopatra's children with Antony.
I'm giving it back a star because on the whole my nitpicks about it don't take away from what I enjoy about this format. It gives the reader short digestible bits of information that combine to give you a picture of the highs and lows of being Cleopatra.

[Kelly Mize · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great high-interest, humorous but factual account of Cleopatra's life and reign. For young readers, a timeline at the beginning may have been helpful. It does contain information about incestuous marriages and gruesome murders; read it before your child so you know what (s)he is learning and can be prepared to discuss. We may use it some time before Christmas to describe the circumstances in world history just before the time of Christ, after the kids have learned about ancient Egypt.

[Abby Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of many entries in the You Wouldn't Want... series by Scholastic, I found this book to be a fun read. It gives an overview of Cleopatra's life with cartoon illustrations. Lots of side panels give facts about ancient Egyptian culture and the people in Cleopatra's life. This series has been really popular with some of the second grade classes in our district. It doesn't make a good research book because it doesn't list sources, but it's lots of fun for recreational reading.

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent series for anyone interested in history but might not enjoy the hobby of reading. Filled with amazing illustrations and perfect resource information, the author does a great job of explaining how the world of Pharoahs worked and how Cleopatra came to be one of the best known. A great resource book to add to your library collection.

[Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really good because it gives you tips about how to look like an Egyptian and a Goddess. It tells you why you should not be a Cleopatra - some people think it might be great to be Cleopatra, but if you read this book you'll see that it's not that great.

[Tressa (Wishful Endings) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series of books! This is a perfect and fabulous book to teach children about Cleopatra from Ancient Egypt. It also has quite a bit about two of Ancient Rome's leaders as well. Highly recommend.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is just fun! It is more for the older Elementary group to even Middle School.

This makes history interesting and fun. I learned a TON about Cleopatra that I didn't know about. It is down with humor will pounding out facts!

What should I read next in this series!!

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the humor in history it gives

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was cool. I figured out you shouldn't be a ruler like that, you shouldn't be Cleopatra and you shouldn't be an egyptian.

[Bob Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this for Rylie as we prepare to go to a Cleopatra exhibit in Milwaukee. Well done, for a children's book.

[Julie Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book to my daughter

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good! I usually hate these books, but this one seemed much better. My kids really enjoyed it and I certainly learned a lot.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young readers will enjoy “You Wouldn’t Want to Be Cleopatra!” a high-interest, humorous, but fictional account of Cleopatra’s life and reign, which also incorporates a large number of facts. The cartoon illustrations are appealing, combined with many sidebars sharing facts related to Ancient Egyptian culture and historical figures that played important roles in Cleopatra’s life. No sources are listed, nor is a timeline included, so the slender volume serves as recreational reading, rather than research material. Nonetheless, readers of the popular series will find the text engaging, upbeat, and informative.