Tag Archives: Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Gypsy Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

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The Gypsy Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, is a direct sequel to the author’s award-winning book, The Egypt Game. This book follows the same characters and setting as in the previous book. The story begins with April and her friend Melanie deciding to stop playing the Egypt Game. Instead, they switch over to play what they call the Gypsy Game. Their friend Toby claims to have real gypsy ancestors. His father even paints a mural of a gypsy caravan to help with the game. Toby also brings some of his grandmother’s gypsy jewelry. The children look forward to starting a new and exciting game together.

Before the game begins, Toby starts acting very strange.  It turns out that he is dealing with problems in his family. Toby goes missing, and the rest of the Gypsy Game members become fearful about what may have happened to him. The children are confronted with ethical dilemmas while trying to find their missing friend.

This book is fun and entertaining but also quite suspenseful as well. The story is full of twists and turns, which made it hard for me to put the book down once I started reading it. I kept wondering what was going to happen next. I especially enjoyed the alternating perspectives from different characters throughout the story. I was excited to read this book as soon as I finished The Egypt Game, and I am glad that I did. Even though I was surprised that the children never actually ended up playing the Gypsy Game, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

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The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, is the story of a young girl named April Hall. April’s mother is an actress in Hollywood, but she sends April away to live with her grandmother in Berkeley, California. April makes friends with a girl named Melanie and her younger brother Marshall. Together, they come up a game that they play behind an old antique store run by a strange man known as the Professor. They call it the “Egypt Game.” As the days go on, the game grows to six members as they make new friends. They wear Egyptian costumes and pretend to have ancient Egyptian ceremonies. It all seems like a fun and imaginary game about Ancient Egypt. However, strange and mysterious things begin to happen to the children, causing them to feel that they are in serious danger.

This book received a Newbery Honor award. I think that it deserves this honor because it is very well-written and engaging. The characters are realistic and the story moves along at a good pace. The story is also very suspenseful, which made it difficult for me to stop reading once I started. Overall, this book definitely exceeded my expectations. I expected it to be a typical book targeted to young people, but it had more depth and originality than I expected. I enjoyed the way this book blended imaginary game playing with real-life action. These imaginative children are very lifelike characters, and their adventures are exciting with many unexpected twists. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.