Synopses & Reviews
The kids from The Egypt Game are back. What game will they play next? The answer is Gypsies. While April plunges in with her usual enthusiasm, the more Melanie learns, the more something seems to be holding her back. But it's Toby who adds a really new wrinkle when he announces that he himself is a bona fide Gypsy. Plus he can get them some of his grandmother's things to use as real Gypsy props for the new game. What could be more thrilling? Then Toby suddenly and mysteriously disappears, and the kids discover that living as real-life Gypsies may not be as much fun as they thought. How will they find Toby and rescue him from the very real problems that are haunting his life?
Synopsis
The kids from The Egypt Game are back. What game will they play next? The answer is Gypsies. While April plunges in with her usual enthusiasm, the more Melanie learns, the more something seems to be holding her back. But it's Toby who adds a really new wrinkle when he announces that he himself is a bona fide Gypsy. Plus he can get them some of his grandmother's things to use as real Gypsy props for the new game. What could be more thrilling? Then Toby suddenly and mysteriously disappears, and the kids discover that living as real-life Gypsies may not be as much fun as they thought. How will they find Toby and rescue him from the very real problems that are haunting his life?
About the Author
Raised in California, in the country--with no television and few movies to watch--three-time Newbery Honor winner Zilpha Keatley Snyder filled her childhood with animals, games, and books. Among her earliest acquaintances were cows, goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, and horses. In fact, her family's animals were her closest friends, and a nearby library was a constant source of magic, adventure, and excitement for her. And when she wasn't reading or playing with animals, Snyder made up games and stories to entertain herself.
While Zilpha Keatley Snyder was growing up, interesting stories filled her household. Both of her parents spent a lot of time relating accounts of past events in their lives, so Snyder came by her storytelling instincts early. But unlike her parents, when Zilpha had something to tell, she had, as she says, "an irresistible urge to make it worth telling. And without the rich and rather lengthy past that my parents had to draw on, I was forced to rely on the one commodity of which I had an adequate supply--imagination." Consequently, at the age of eight, Zilpha Keatley Snyder decided to become a writer.
As a student, Snyder was very proficient in reading and writing, and experienced few problems in the small country schools she attended until the end of sixth grade. But upon entering the seventh grade in the city of Ventura, she was, as she recalls, "suddenly a terrible misfit." Snyder retreated further into books and daydreams, and admits: "Book were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room, onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved the look and feel of them, even the smell. . . . Libraries were treasure houses. I always entered them with a slight thrill of disbelief that all their endless riches were mine for the borrowing."
Snyder attended Whittier College in Southern California, where she says she "grew physically and socially as well as intellectually." There she also met her future husband, Larry Snyder. While ultimately planning to be a writer, after graduation Snyder decided to teach school temporarily. But she found teaching to be an extremely rewarding experience and taught in the upper elementary grades for a total of nine years, three of them as a master teacher for the University of California at Berkeley. Zilpha and Larry were married in June of 1950, and went on to have three children, Melissa, Douglas, and Ben.
In the early sixties, when all of her children were finally in school, Snyder began to think about writing again. "Writing for children hadn't occurred to me when I was younger, but nine years of teaching in the upper elementary grades had given me a deep appreciation of the gifts and graces that are specific to individuals with ten or eleven years of experience as human begins. Remembering a dream I'd had when I was twelve years old, about some strange and wonderful horses, I sat down and began to write."
Season of Ponies, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's first book, was published in 1964. Her most recent novel, Gib Rides Home, follows an orphan boy who shows strength and courage as he endures harsh treatment during his five years at the orphanage before he finds a family of his own. Gib's story is a tribute to the memory of Snyder's father who grew up in an orphanage in Oklahoma.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder's three Newbery Honor books are: The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, and The Witches of Worm. Other books for Bantam Doubleday Dell are The Trespassers, an American Bookseller Pick of the List; Cat Running, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and winner of the 1995 John and Patricia Beatty Award; and her newest work, The Gypsy Game, companion to The Egypt Game.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder currently lives in Mill Valley, a small town near San Francisco. In her spare time, she loves reading and traveling, and of course, writing, which besides being her occupation has always been her favorite hobby.
Teacher Guide
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The kids from The Egypt Game are back, and they're ready to play a new game--Gypsies. In The Gypsy Game, when April and Melanie present their new game to the gang they discover an intriguing fact: their friend Toby Alvillar claims to be "a real, live, authentic Gypsy." As the friends develop their new game, Toby becomes distant and strange. Then one day, Toby disappears and the group is on a search that leads them toward a new understanding of family and friendship.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Raised in California, in the country--with no television and few movies to watch--three-time Newbery Honor winner Zilpha Keatley Snyder filled her childhood with animals, games, and books. Among her earliest acquaintances were cows, goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, and horses. In fact, her family's animals were her closest friends, and a nearby library was a constant source of magic, adventure, and excitement for her. And when she wasn't reading or playing with animals, Snyder made up games and stories to entertain herself.
While Zilpha Keatley Snyder was growing up, interesting stories filled her household. Both of her parents spent a lot of time relating accounts of past events in their lives, so Snyder came by her storytelling instincts early. But unlike her parents, when Zilpha had something to tell, she had, as she says, "an irresistible urge to make it worth telling. And without the rich and rather lengthy past that my parents had to draw on, I was forced to rely on the one commodity of which I had an adequate supply--imagination." Consequently, at the age of eight, Zilpha Keatley Snyder decided to become a writer.
TEACHING IDEAS
Pre-Reading Activity
The Egypt Game and The Gypsy Game depict a special friendship that develops among six diverse characters. Ask students to write a journal entry about one of their friends who is most unlike them. What makes their friendship special? Encourage them to share their writing with the class.
Thematic Connections
Friendship
In many friendships, one person emerges as the leader. Trace the friendship that develops between Melanie and April as they engage in the games of "Egypt" and "Gypsy." Which girl appears to be the leader?
Abandonment
There are several characters who feel abandoned by friends and family. In The Egypt Game, April feels that her mother abandons her when she sends her to live with her grandmother. In The Gypsy Game, Toby's security is threatened when his maternal grandparents try to take him from his father. Ask students to compare and contrast the way April and Toby deal with their feelings of insecurity and abandonment. Describe how each of the following characters may also feel abandoned: the Professor in The Egypt Game; Garbo in The Gypsy Game; Bruno, the dog in The Gypsy Game.
Family and Relationships
Melanie, Marshall, and Ken are the only characters in the novels who live in a traditional family. At what point does April begin to accept that she and her grandmother are a family in The Egypt Game? How does their relationship grow in The Gypsy Game? Ask students to make a special Mother's Day card that April might give to her grandmother.
Toby feels a special bond with his father despite their unusual life-style. This is especially evident in The Gypsy Game. Describe their relationship. How does Toby's father demonstrate his love for Toby? Ask students to write a letter that Toby might write to his grandparents stating why he wants to live with his father.
Ethical Dilemmas
Toby's father places the children in an "ethical dilemma" when he comes to the Gypsy Camp and asks them about Toby's whereabouts. What is an ethical dilemma? How do the children finally solve their quandary? Engage the class in a discussion about the predicaments that today's teenagers face. How can peer pressure place a person in an ethical dilemma? In what situations might it be okay to break a promise to a friend?
A Sense of Community
The "Egypt" and "Gypsy" games provide the children with a sense of community and teamwork. How does the neighborhood surrounding the Casa Rosada rally behind the Professor? How do the children use their "Gypsy Game" to help Toby? How does finding Toby lead the children toward serving the homeless in their community?
Interdisciplinary Connections
Social Studies
April and her friends conduct research about Egyptians and Gypsies before engaging in their games. Ask the class to name other ancient cultures that they have studied, such as the Incas and Aztecs, and the ancient Babylonians, Chinese, and Greeks. Divide the class into groups, allowing each to select one culture to research the facts needed to create a new game. After the groups share their research with the class, ask which of the cultures researched would most likely interest April and Melanie and why.
Toby's grandparents were Gypsies, belonging to the Rom tribe. Ask students to research the culture of the Roms and describe how they made a living, their family structure, laws, religion, and language. Students may gain insight into the Roms by researching the Irish Travelers who live in South Carolina today.
Health
When Toby is on the run in The Gypsy Game he encounters some homeless people. Garbo tells him about one man who died in the basement of the boarded-up church. Invite someone from your community who deals with homeless people to speak to the class. Ask them to discuss the most common health threats to homeless people. What agencies in your town or city are trying to help the homeless?
Teaching ideas prepared by Pat Scales, director of library services, The South Carolina Governor's School for Arts and Humanities, Greenville, South Carolina.
REVIEWS
x"[ The Gypsy Game ] continues to offer Snyder's well-nigh irresistible combination of suspense, wit and avowal of the imagination."
--Starred, Publishers Weekly
"Readers who thrilled to the magic and mystery of the costumes, ceremonies, and pharaoh's curses in The Egypt Game will find themselves drawn to and intrigued by the jewelry, colorful clothes, and fortune-telling in this adventure."
-- The Horn Book
"The characters, plot, and setting are realistic and kids should find this mystery of why Toby ran away to be a page-turner."
-- Children's Literature
FURTHER READING
Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White[0-440-41372-9]
The Friends by Kazumi Yumoto[0-440-41446-6]
Gib Rides Home by Zilpha K. Snyder[0-385-32267-4]
Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff[0-440-41453-9]
Monkey Island by Paula Fox[0-440-40770-2]
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://egydir.soficom.com.eg/
http://www.qvctc.commnet.edu/student/GaryOKeefe/homeless/frame.html
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/
http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/?tqskip=1
http://artalpha.anu.edu.au/web/arc/arcworld.htm
http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/ej/jpe/anthenv/
Author Q&A
author fun factsBorn: May 11 in Lemoore, California
Education: B.A. from Whittier College in Southern California
Residence: Mill Valley, California
Previous job: Schoolteacher in the upper elementary grades for nine years
Pet: A silky terrier, a 12-pound student of human nature
Favorite hobbies: reading, writing, traveling
Favorite foods: bread, cheese, fruit
Favorite clothes to wear: warm and baggy clothes
Favorite colors: red, white, lavender
Favorite books: too many to name
From the Hardcover edition.