The Golden Goblet (Newbery Library, Puffin)

Another tale from ancient Egypt by the author of "Mara, Daughter of the Nile". "Goblet" tells the tale of a orphaned boy, Ranofer, who is at the mercy of his abusive half brother, Gebu. When the tale starts out, Ranofer is working as a gofer in a goldsmith's shop. Somebody has been stealing small

amounts of gold from the shop and Ranofer begins to suspect that Gebu is involved. What follows is a complicated tale of intrigue. Well, complicated for a kids' book, anyway. Over all, it was well done. To read it would be a quite enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I'm glad I checked it out.
--J.

Show Less

8 more

LibraryThing member theBkids

Ranofer's dream is to be a goldsmith, but his greedy and abusive brother, Gebu, has other plans for him.
When Ranofer finds out Gebu is stealing-and that he was using Ranofer to help him-what can he do? If he tells the officials he will get himself hanged.
Can he, even with the help of his closest

friends,put a stop to Gebu's stealing? And will he get up the courage to tell his closest friends?

Show Less

LibraryThing member cmbohn

My mom got this one for my kids about a year ago, and they were just not interested at all. So it's sat around. I finally picked it up to take a look. It's a Newberry honor book, so I figured it was probably worth reading.

In fact, I did enjoy it. It's about a boy, Ranofer, whose father has recently

died. His father was a goldsmith and he was training Ranofer in the trade. But now Ranofer lives with his brutal half brother Gebu, who alternately beats and berates Ranofer and makes him his own apprentice as a stonecutter. Then Ranofer begins to notice that Gebu has more money than he should. Where is he getting it? And what about the golden goblet of the title?

I would recommend this one to kids or teens interested in ancient Egypt, especially boys.

CMB

Show Less

LibraryThing member mirrani

It isn’t often that a book throws you into the world of Ancient Egypt with such perfection that you move from cover to cover as easily as you’d travel down the Nile. This is the case with The Golden Goblet, a winner of the Newberry Honor that should have managed to claim the full award. While

reading I found myself realizing that the descriptions were perfect replications of the lives painted on the walls of the tombs, that it was as if those paintings had come to life, as they were meant to when they were drawn onto the walls to guide those in the afterlife.

Though the mystery is somewhat obvious for an adult mind, the read itself is not to be missed. Not once did I put the book down to think “that wouldn’t have happened” or “they would never have said that.” If it were possible for someone to have lived in the time of the story, come back and written this book, I could easily believe that was exactly what had happened in the process of creating this book. Time travel is possible, just open the cover and begin your journey.

Show Less

LibraryThing member YAbookfest

I love historical fiction and was prepared to like this but I was disappointed. There are many interesting historical facts but the pace was too slow until the very end and the humor fell flat.

LibraryThing member Dreesie

This Newbery Honor book is part of the 6th grade curriculum in my kids' district, and my now-7th-grader wanted me to read it too. (FWIW, it was his second favorite assigned book in 6th grade--The Phantom Tollbooth was #1.)

Ranofer, recently orphaned, is now living with and working for his much older

half brother Gebu. With his goldsmith father's death went his dreams of being apprenticed to one of the master goldsmiths in ancient Thebes. Gebu is a bully, and is not good to Ranofer. Can Ranofer solve the mystery of Gebu's nighttime forays? And can he find a way to be an apprentice goldsmith?

This novel has good middle-grade pacing, and lots of age appropriate information on Ancient Egypt.

Show Less

LibraryThing member fingerpost

Ranofer is a boy working in a goldsmiths shop in ancient Egypt. He longs to be a true goldsmith, but his guardian, a cruel and abusive half brother, Gebu, won't allow him a full apprenticeship. When the boy learns that his brother has been using him to steal small amounts of gold from the shop, he

tries, with the help of two friends (one his own age, the other a very old man) to find a way to stop his brother's theft without being accused himself.
When he is no longer useful to Gebu, the brother pulls Ranofer from the goldsmith and takes him on at his own stonemasons shop, which the boy loathes completely. But he soon realizes that Gebu is involved in even more serious crimes than stealing smiges of gold from goldsmiths. He and his friends will have a difficult time figuring out what his new crime is, and an even more difficult time bringing him to justice.
The plot was intriguing enough to keep my interest throughout the book, and the setting in ancient Egypt added interest. The story is totally plot driven, surging forward at all times, with no sidetracking at all for additional character development or subplots. Indeed, there isn't a single female character in the book until about the last ten pages or so.

Show Less

LibraryThing member RobertaLea

I had a hard time putting this book down. There was a great deal of action that moved right along and a lot of information about Ancient Egypt.

LibraryThing member mutantpudding

A great historical fiction story. I'll be honest tho at times I was more interested in ancient Egyptian crafts than I was the overarching plot but that's probably just me.

Fewer