Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Author/illustrator James Rumford turns to the fascinating subject of Jean-François Champollion, the man who first deciphered the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system, in this engaging work of picture-book biography. Emphasizing the fascination that Egypt held for Champollion, who lived during the Napoleonic era, the narrative here describes his determination to decode this mysterious writing system. As the world around him was convulsed with contemporaneous conflict, he was preoccupied with the ancient world, and with his quest to discover its secrets...

Having greatly enjoyed Rumford's Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing, which told the story of another great man, one who invented a writing system, I was show more interested to pick up Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs, which chronicles the life story of someone who decoded a writing system. I'm always amazed at the incredible amount of persistence and hard work that such people must possess, in order to increase the store of human knowledge, and I greatly appreciated how Rumford highlighted these qualities, in his eponymous subject's life. I enjoyed the watercolor illustrations here, and the way in which Egyptian hieroglyphs were worked into the narrative. Strongly recommended to all picture-book readers fascinated by Ancient Egypt, and by the idea of decoding forgotten languages. show less

I can't believe how much I've learned about hieroglyphs and Napoleonic France from reading this book. To begin with, I was completely unaware when it came to Egyptology before this. I never had an interest, but after reading this I am completely enthralled with it. I never imagined that this would be so illuminating. I didn't know that the Rosetta Stone came from Rosetta, Egypt. I thought that it came from the Middle East. Guess it just goes to show how little I really knew about the topic. I was fascinated by the rebellion of the French people against friends of Napoleon after his defeat at Waterloo. It's like the French Revolution all over again. What an amazing guy he must have been. I really enjoyed this book. I recommend it to show more anyone with the time to get through it. show less

#109, 2006

This is a lovely book for children, about Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who is credited with deciphering the Rosetta Stone, and unlocking the secrets of heiroglyphic writing for the modern world. It begins during Jean-Francois’ childhood, focusing on his life-long desire to learn all he could about ancient Egypt. I thought this was a nice way to present the information to children – along with the biographical material, there is an underlying message of “follow your dreams.” The illustrations are beautiful, too. A great book, which is very much in keeping with our current history study.

A good introduction to hieroglyphics and the man who deciphered them. Makes us want to learn more!

Seeker of Knowledge is a biography of an late 18th century scholar. Jean Francoise Champollion was a young man with dreams of Egypt. He longed to discover the unknown language and writings of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. This dream started as a young boy and continued until Jean’s adulthood as he wrote many manuscripts on his research. Later on his life Jean travelled to Egypt. With his passion to discover the language he finally unlocks a great discovery to the hieroglyphs. Jean Francoise Champollion discovered many aspect of the language many which were incorrect although he managed to unlock key concepts of the writings.