Living in the walls of an ancient Egyptian temple, a small scarab beetle is going about his daily activities when he encounters a young prince. Khepri, whose name means "rising sun," finds himself transported shortly thereafter to an ornate tomb that is still under construction. Here he discovers a dangerous paving stone in one of the subterranean passages of the tomb, and rightly concludes that a trap has been laid - a trap for the very prince he so recently encountered. Fortunately, the prince sees Khepri a second time, and allows the beetle to lead the way, thereby preventing an attempted assassination, and securing an honored place for Khepri in Egyptian tradition...

An imaginative 'what if" story, Nick Would's The Scarab's Secret does not appear to be based upon any actual Egyptian myth, although the god Ra is mentioned in the narrative. Rather, it appears to be a work of historical fiction, one which attempts to explain the significance of the scarab beetle to the ancient Egyptians. I found the story here engaging, and thought that the accompanying artwork from illustrator Christian Balit was absolutely marvelous. I love Balit's use of color and stylized forms, and found each page a pleasure to peruse. I'd recommend this one to children who are interested in Ancient Egypt, as well as to fellow fans of Balit's artwork. ( )

Khepri, the scarab beetle, turns out to be a hero for a young Egyptian prince. Ra the Sun God created Khepri, and the young prince was very religious and believed that all living things needed to be respected, and had a purpose. Khepri ends up in the corridors of the palace and realizes that he almost slipped and could have died, and immediately he thought about his new friend, the prince. He needed to warn him because the prince's servants had an evil plan where they wanted to take the prince down the lethal passageway. However, the prince spots Khepri, and the little beetle leads the way of saving the prince's life. I enjoyed the background story on the scarab beetle, and I also really enjoy the illustrations. The expression on the characters of the story was very accurate. I learned a little something about Egyptian history, and that's what I enjoyed about this book. I would recommend this book to students, parents, and my kids. ( )

A concise tale told from the perspective of the stag beetle of how it came to be important in ancient Egyptian symbolism. The artwork is beautiful and makes this a good book when learning about ancient Egyptian artwork. The story was very simple and didn't offer a lot of context or detail. I think the author could have done more, but it was an enjoyable little story nonetheless. A two, but one extra star given for the artwork. ( )

"The Scarab's Secret" is the story about how Khepri, a beetle, discovers a dark secret that, once revealed, not only saves a life but also gets him honored on a pharaoh's temple. The belief that even the smallest of beings can make a large impact on the world seems to be the theme in this book. Since the book is set in Ancient Egypt, the historical setting is a very major aspect of the plot and the story's meaning. Without Egypt as the setting, this book would lack something critical to its ability to portray such a significant story. While the story of a beetle saving a life can still be a great one, it's the historical setting that makes the life that Khepri saves and the act of saving it have such a noteworthy meaning. This book really reinforces that "little people can do do big things" idea in the mind of the readers and that's why it's such a remarkable one. ( )

This book follows a scarab beetle as he discovers the secrets of the Pharaohs. We begin to follow the beetle he comes across a friendly Pharaoh who admires the beetle. As the beetle continues on his journey the reader follows in a basket on a boat, where the beetle sleeps. The next day, the beetle is being carried in the basket into the Pharaoh's palace. The beetle adventures through the palace until he comes across moving tiles in the floor, he then realizes the moving floor tiles are a trap to capture the Pharaoh and hid him forever. Then the beetle hears footsteps and realizes that the Pharaohs servants are deceitfully tricking the Pharaoh by bringing him to the floor trap. Worried about his Prince, the beetle crawled out of dark and made himself seen my the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh excited to see his beetle friend, decided to allow the beetle to lead the way in where he would go. The beetle was happy to lead his Prince to safety, but the Prince was suspicious of his servant's plan and had them lead the way down the hall with the trap floor. The men ran away in terror and the Prince thanked the beetle for saving his life. I think this is a good book for students learning about Egypt because the setting give one an idea of what Egypt looks like, their values, and beliefs. One theme in this story is to "choose your friends carefully", the Pharaoh thought that he could trust his servants when they were secretly plotting to kill him. ( )