Book Review: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Cleopatra's Daughter
by Michelle Moran
Non-series

Crown
ISBN-10: 0-3074-0912-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-3074-0912-6
Publication Date: September, 2009
List Price: $25.00

Review: Romance, tragedy, and love, these are all words that describe Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran. Selene starts the story at 12 years old, but gets older as the story goes on. Her life is filled with heartbreak, and love. How will she get through? This story starts in Egypt, but is mainly in Rome.

When Egypt is taken over by the Roman Empire, Selene’s mother- Cleopatra is forced to commit suicide. Her father is too. Ceaser has no mercy; he goes on to murder the rest of her family except for her two brothers. They are then set off on a ship to Rome where they will be raised. One problem arises while they are on the ship; Ptolemy (Selene’s younger brother) gets sick and dies. Selene and her brother Alexander are devastated, and they wonder, what will happen to them? While on the ship Selene meets Marcellus, Selene thinks she is in love with him. He is handsome, funny, and kind. Naturally when she finds out that he is engaged to the beautiful Julia, there is going to be some drama. Julia hates the idea of him complementing, flirting and spending time with Selene, but Selene loves him… At age 15 she is to be married off to someone, will it be an old man, a young man, or someone of great power? Thinking that Alexander is going to be married with her, what will she do when tragedy strikes again?

I found Cleopatra’s Daughter to be a very interesting book. Moran did a very good job of painting a picture in your mind. It was like you could see the whole story happening right there in front of you. I felt like I was being transported to ancient Egypt! The whole thing was believable, and Selene was easy to relate to. Like when Selene gets jealous of Julia for being Marcellus’s fiancé. At no point was this story unbelievable. While this was a good book it wasn’t perfect. Something that I found to be frustrating was that not all words that were italicized (that were Egyptian or Roman) were in the glossary. So at times this made it hard to follow. Another thing I liked about the book was the beginning. It dove into action, which made it interesting. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone under 6th grade due to some higher-level material.

Review written by Kayley (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Nancy Berland Public Relations, Inc. for providing a copy of Cleopatra's Daughter for this review.

Have you read Cleopatra's Daughter? How would you rate it?