This second humor, talking animals book by Geronimo Stilton in the ” Geronimo Stilton” series is published by Scholastic Paperbacks.
The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid is written for kids ages 7 to 10. The age range reflects readability and not necessarily content appropriateness.
Geronimo Stilton enjoys his job managing The Rodent’s Gazette until his thrifty grandfather, the paper’s owner, steps in to cut costs. Grandfather sends Geronimo to Egypt to get a story on a professor who has discovered an energy source using camel dung. Though Geronimo’s Dirt Cheap Airlines flight nearly crashes and he gets trapped in an ancient pyramid, he ends up enjoying his adventure and writing a book about it. When he returns home, he and his newspaper cronies create a plan to send Grandfather on an around-the-world cruise so they can return to business as usual. Text in a variety of colors, sizes, typefaces and alignments alongside comical rodent renderings make this book unique, but they mix fact and fiction about ancient civilizations.
Geronimo says his ears were ringing like church bells at Christmousetime, and he refers to “mouse heaven.”
As Professor Spitfur tells Geronimo about Egyptian history, he shares several theories and legends: He notes that Egyptians were buried with their treasure so they could take their items with them into the afterlife. He also tells how some believed the Egyptians moved the heavy blocks for the pyramids using telepathy and that they built them to honor aliens from faraway galaxies.
He shows Geronimo a tomb with pictures of gods and goddesses and says that whoever desecrates a pharaoh’s tomb will be cursed. Shortly thereafter, he is hit on the head and loses his memory. After seeing the Egyptian sunrise, Geronimo says he understands why the Egyptians worshiped the sun.
Geronimo’s grandfather, in his quest to save money, puts an entire newspaper staff out of work and endangers his grandson’s life.
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If your children have read this book or someone has read it to them, consider these discussion topics:
Parents could begin a discussion about Egyptian history with children. Caregivers will want to help kids sift through what is true and what isn’t.
Was it necessary for Geronimo and his staff to lie about who was paying for Grandfather’s around-the-world cruise?
How might they have handled the situation better?
If you could travel anywhere on a great adventure, where would you go and why?
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