The Mostly True Story of Cleopatra..., Dan Gutman
The Mostly True Story of Cleopatra..., Dan Gutman
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The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle

Author: Dan Gutman

Narrator: Michael Rahhal, Amin El Gamal, Laura Knight Keating, Alex Wingfield, Samara Naeymi, Mark Sanderlin

Unabridged: 3 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 06/25/2024


Synopsis

When a kid is dragged to Central Park in New York on a Saturday (when he could be at home watching the ball game), the last thing he wants is a history lesson from his mom. But then his mother starts telling him a story. A story about the giant structure sitting in right in front of them—Cleopatra’s Needle.

It turns out that an enslaved boy and hundreds of other people spent more than six hundred days carving the Needle out of stone and pulling it upright.

And another kid’s drawings were used to create the hieroglyphs on its sides.

And a girl tried sabotage to keep the Needle from leaving its home in Egypt—sabotage that nearly worked.

And a boy stowed away on the trip the Needle took across the Atlantic Ocean—and when the ship nearly sank, it was the boy who saved everyone on board.

And when the Needle finally made it to New York City, it became a sensation … but almost got stuck just a few miles from its destination.

This thrilling story is told through the eyes of five kids who were there every step of the way. But only best-selling author Dan Gutman could blend fact and fiction to tell it. Reading The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle is like watching a movie … a movie that will have you on the edge of your seat.

This audiobook is narrated by Amin El Gamal, Michael Rahhal, Samara Naeymi, Alex Wingfield, Mark Sanderlin, and Laura Knight Keating.

About Dan Gutman

Dan Gutman is the New York Times bestselling author of the Genius Files series; the Baseball Card Adventure series, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies around the world; and the My Weird School series, which has sold more than 36 million copies. Thanks to his many fans who voted in their classrooms, Dan has received nineteen state book awards and ninety-two state book award nominations. He lives in New York City with his wife. You can visit him online at dangutman.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Miles on July 07, 2024

Literally every narrator was insufferable. And mostly true is an overstatement. Virtually everything except like the fact that cleopatra’s needle exists and was brought to New York is untrue. Overall it left me with more work sorting fact from fiction to really have learned much.......more

Goodreads review by Dallin on July 07, 2024

Here's another one we listened to on vacation. Maybe it would've been better with the visuals, but I think I would've preferred a book with actual facts.......more

Goodreads review by Carol (Reading Ladies) on September 17, 2024

The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle is the fictionalized story of the obelisk’s construction and its journey from Egypt to New York City. Have you seen Cleopatra’s Needle in Central Park, New York City? If you have, do you know the history behind this obelisk? Cleopatra’s Needle weighs over......more

Goodreads review by Phoebe on February 04, 2025

I read this book with my 9-year-old, and we found it enjoyable, it definitely made us want to go to Central Park to see Cleopatra's Needle for ourselves. We are Egyptian Americans who get pretty upset about antiquities theft, but even my son thought the Egyptian girl's anger about the removal of the......more

Goodreads review by Glenna on September 26, 2024

The story of the creation and history of Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk that eventually was brought to New York City's Central Park, is told through many imagined voices from a slave boy involved in its making to another boy involved in the hieroglyphs that tell a story, to an Egyptian girl who tri......more