Demiana’s Book Review on "Maia of Thebes"

Maia of Thebes

By: Ann Turner

Published: by Scholastic Inc.

Published in: 557 Broadway, New York, NY, USA, in 2005

Pages: 169

Found in: Christian Heritage School Library

Story Review: 

       Truth, justice, knowledge, and respect were the foods she craved while living with her mischievous and brutal aunt and uncle! However, because of that hunger and her love to her caring brother, her whole life changed and so did her destiny! She shined brighter than the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but in her case, she was the lighthouse of Thebes. She was a hero to some but to others, she was a poisonous snake to their power! Her name was Maia. Thirteen-year-old Maia lived in Thebes, Egypt, 1463 B.C., in the time of Queen Hatshepsut, hence the title, “Maia of Thebes”. Author Ann Turner wrote and painted a picture of Maia living in a time when Ancient Egypt was in all its glory! Themes of mystery, love, courage, and urgency are conveyed throughout Maia’s story. Enjoy!

      Maia wanted what her brother Seti had, knowledge. She begged him to teach her how to read and write Hieroglyphics, which was forbidden for girls to learn! But, she was a girl of courage and was willing to take the risk. She wanted to do something with her life, other than being a servant in her own house and being treated like an animal. Seti agreed, emphasizing to her that no one must know and that this was their secret.

      One night, her new skill did come in handy! While sleeping on the flat roof, she heard a strange sound. She got up and her uncle wasn’t there, but when she saw him come back, she secretly went to the storage room. There, she tried to read with only little light the clay seal of the bags of grain she found. She assumed her uncle just brought the bags because they weren’t there before. The clay seal would tell her where the grain is from, and it said, “ I belong to the temple of Karnak.” Her uncle was a thief! He, one of the priests of the temple, stole the grain from there to gain profit!

      It was the big day! It was the day of celebration at the Karnak temple, where the Queen was! Maia was very excited, but one thing kept gnawing at her the whole time there, the truth. She kept hearing the voice of Amun, the god of truth, inside of her about what she discovered the night before. She felt an urgent need to tell the truth. She couldn’t! Why? Because she knew the punishment for a priest stealing from the temple is terrifying, and it wouldn’t just fall on the thief but on his whole family! She thought of her brother. What would happen to him? Truth and love were fighting inside of her but truth won! She wasn’t in control of herself anymore!

       She gave her uncle up! As a reward, Hatshepsut gave her a gift for telling the truth, but that didn’t mean she is safe. The priests were planning the worst of the worst for her because by accusing a priest, she ruined their reputation! She had to escape because one of the priests threatened her! Maia fled with Nefert, a noble woman who she knew well, and Meret, her daughter and Maia’s friend, to their home in an estate south of Thebes. Maia was safe there. On top of that, instead of being treated like a servant, she was treated like a noble. She was taken care of and loved, but there it was again, that feeling of urgency!

          The thought of her brother kept gnawing at her. Not only the fact that he was away from her, but that he was in trouble and in need of her. Then, there was the truth! The trial was still happening in Thebes, and there, they needed a witness whom she wanted to be. She wanted justice and would do anything to get it! She also wanted her brother and would do anything to see him. After days passed by, she couldn’t take it anymore so she had to leave. Since she knew Nefert would never allow that to happen, she escaped early in the morning by boat back to Thebes!

         Hurrying to the temple, she opened the doors to find her terrified aunt, uncle, brother, some guards, and the priests of the temple, who were deciding on what should be done to her family! She was ready to say the truth until she saw his bother. She knew that justice was that her uncle deserved punishment, not her brother, but the priests didn’t know that! If she told the truth, justice wouldn’t be done. She looked into her brother’s eyes and didn’t know what to say. She always valued the truth, and she was always courageous. She learned to write, revealed the thief, fled back to Thebes on her own, and at that moment she had a choice! Will she please Amun, the god of truth, who always protected her, or will she not for her brother whom she loved?

      

Christian Perspective:

               This book clearly was not written from a Christian Perspective because the time was 1463 BC, therefore it was before Christianity. Also, the characters believe in the ancient Egyptian gods, like Amun Raa. However, Maia did have some Christ like values. I find her courageousness is admirable! I love how much she craved truth and justice, and how much she loved her brother to the point that she fled on her own to see him! In Psalms 89:14, it says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” The only thing was that she couldn’t admit the whole truth when the priests were judging her family. As Christians, we could go through a similar trial where we have to choose between defending family, maybe also ourselves, or telling the truth. But we always forget one thing! We search for the truth not to prove we are right but to prove we love God! So really, truth and love don’t go against each other like we sometimes think. All we can do is be honest, ask for mercy, and God will do the rest! This is about trust in him! On the other hand, if the fault is from our family, we should try as much as we can to show them the true way of God before it gets to something worse. In 1 Corinthians 5-6, it says, “…. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? ^{6 ” Asking God for guidance is the greatest solution in both cases!}But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

My thoughts:

                I chose this book because I am from Egypt, and I wanted to see what other people imagine ancient Egypt to look like! I’ve read a book from this series, “The Life And Times”, before about ancient Greece. I like the series at least from what I’ve read in these two books. I love this book because the author painted a picture of ancient Egypt in all its glory, which I enjoyed imagining now that it’s all gone! It brought me back home, and I could actually remember not just imagine the things that the author described! I recommend this book to people interested in history, especially Egyptology, and yes there’s such thing! This will give you a closer look into ancient Egypt, and the historical notes at the end of the book will really help. I recommend this book to everyone in the classroom because we learned about ancient Egypt. We flew through thousands of years, however, this book will take you through an everyday journey in Egypt! Have fun reading!