Kids, Crowns and Cleopatra

Check out the awesome snake neck-
lace courtesy of my novel editor
in New York.

    The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University hosted a program for kids this past Sunday based on my book. We started off with a short reading and discussion.  
    Even though there was a great age range (3rd to 9th grade!), I was impressed by the kids' knowledge and interest in the ancient world.
    After questions, we scooted down to the galleries where I gave a private tour for the group of enthusiastic kids (and some of their parents) of our Ptolemaic artifacts.  The mummies, of course, are always the star attraction! However, the kids seemed to really enjoy the conversation about scarab beetles (aka, dung/poop beetles) and their significance. The younger ones couldn't stop giggling when I told them this was their only chance to say "poop" in the museum without getting in trouble. Needless to say, the mummy room echoed softly with the word as they got it out of their system (not literally, of course).
     The older kids enjoyed learning about Anubis and the Weighing of the Heart test. All seemed curious, engaged and appeared to have a great time.

        After the tour, it was back upstairs to make crowns and diadems.

Fellow docent Robey Tapp led the kids in this extremely creative project that involved gold poster paper, cut gold-foil (many times thicker than aluminum foil) for the snakes, stick on jewels, brilliant markers, and lots of beads.
     Check out some of the results:

     A big thank you to Nina West (left), Robey (right) and the museum's Education Department for hosting this wonderful event!

Don't forget about the book giveaway!  See post below, enter a comment for that post and you 

could win a free copy of Cleopatra Rules! for yourself or your school.