Fascinated by ancient Egypt, eleven-year-old Jean-Francois Champollion vowed to be the first Author/Illustrator: James Rumford
Format: Paperback
Published: Houghton Mifflin, 2000

Fascinated by ancient Egypt, eleven-year-old Jean-Francois Champollion vowed to be the first person to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. By the age of sixteen, he had mastered all of the ancient languages, and offered his services to the experts working with the Rosetta Stone. Though they rebuffed his efforts, Champollion continued his work until, in his thirties, he discovered the key to deciphering the ancient writing. Rumford?s skillfully written text and evocative illustrations capture the allure of ancient Egypt and the thrill of the impassioned amateur Egyptologist?s discovery. Simple hieroglyphs are embedded in the text of the story while more complicated ones appear with captions in the margins.