A Dalgety Bay author is hoping his new book on Ancient Egypt will inspire the next generation of historians and archaeologists.

Ancient Egypt for Children has been written John Richardson and put together in a way that is designed to engage kids with the history of the Land of the Pharaohs.

The book is written from the perspective of ‘Hori’, a character based and named after a real person from Ancient Egypt that John had discovered through records and research.

At the end of each page, Hori directs a question towards the reader, which John hopes will make for a more engaging and interactive experience.

He said: “I’ve tried to make it interactive and informative. When the character asks a question, the reader has to stop and think about what the answer is rather than just reading page to page. It’s easy to just keep reading, but if you’re not asked a question on the topic or really thinking about it, you haven’t challenged your mind as much.”

This is the third book John has written in this style, having previously written about the Romans in Britain, and a book on Ancient Greece.

John said “Being interested in history, I thought I had to complete the trilogy of Rome, Greece and Egypt as they have all crossed paths at some point.

“In one sense it follows the style of the previous books, but the Rome and Greece the periods cover around 1000 years, whereas with Egypt it’s closer to 3000 years plus. So this far exceeds the previous two and it’s been a good challenge. Each 1000 years you could write a book on.”

John spoke of his fascination with Egypt and why it is such an interesting subject, saying: “I’ve been to Egypt three times, to visit the sites and temples and what not, and from an engineering perspective it’s just mind-boggling to see what they accomplished without today’s technology.

“I want to stimulate the children of the younger generations in a way that encourages them to be the next historians or archaeologists, and really to just keep asking questions.”

The book is illustrated by local artist Robbie Peterson, whose work adds to the immersive experience of the reader that John wanted to capture.

John said: “I was lucky enough to meet a friend who’s also an artist that did the illustrations for the book. I think his work is really top class. It’s colourful, and young children respond to colour. So, I was really fortunate to have Robbie do the illustrations for me.”

Ancient Egypt for Children is available through Amazon, Google, and independent bookshops.