With exquisitely detailed black-line drawings, this book shows how the pyramids in Egypt may have been constructed. A two-page introduction gives some background of life in Egypt, including an overview of Egyptian spiritual beliefs and practices, especially those related to death and dying. The introduction makes clear that this book is based on an imaginary pharaoh and an imaginary pyramid and that there are differences of opinion about the construction process the Egyptians used.

After the brief introduction, the illustrations dominate, comprising as much as 80% of the pages. Almost like time-lapse photography, readers can see the pyramid grow in vast landscapes, giving children a good sense of the scale of the pyramids, where people are just specks dotting the sides of the massive structure. In addition to these landscapes, Macaulay includes background on the people who designed and built their pyramids and their techniques with illustrations of the different workers and their tools, as well as architectural floor plans and cutaway diagrams.

The text is difficult and presents challenges with its vocabulary and syntax as well as its concepts. A one-page glossary of Egyptian and architectural terms provides some assistance. However, the account of how the priest uses the stars to locate true north is a difficult concept to comprehend; the textual and pictorial explanations may not be sufficient for any but advanced readers.

Though the text and many of the concepts are demanding, young readers will be carried along by the drawings that truly offer a step-by-step guide to how the pyramids were built. The distant and perhaps "quaint"-seeming aspects of Egyptian beliefs and practices are nicely contrasted with their highly advanced, ingenious construction techniques. Children familiar with some aspects of ancient Egypt will perhaps be able to see the "bigger picture" and gain insight and appreciation into the culture of the ancient Egyptians. Younger children will enjoy following the process and watching the pyramid grow from page to page, while older children interested in the "how's" behind history will appreciate this novel approach to learning about ancient Egypt.

Though this was written nearly thirty years ago, this is still one of the best introductions to the building of the pyramids out there, as he distills the basics down to the bare minimum without sacrificing much detail. The drawings, too, are superb, though the one page showing the various bald-headed workers made me think of Blue Man Group.

I do have some minor reservations, however, which are not necessarily Macaulay's fault (I am not going to go into alternative theories about how the pyramids were built, or speculation about the "real" purpose of the pyramids). One, to have built a pyramid of 2 million blocks in 30 years (working 5 months of the year) would have required that over 400 blocks be cut, finished, transported, and set into place EVERY DAY. Two, he doesn't state how the ramps were built so they could withstand the weight of so many tons of blocks day in and day out. And third, how was this enormous operation made to run so smoothly despite accidents and other problems that had to have occurred?

Despite my reservations, this is still a wonderful book to teach people, especially children, how such a massive undertaking was accomplished.