Louvre Quest takes families on an interactive journey through the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Europe. Our experienced team of educators recommend these book and games as companions to that learning adventure.
The Book of Lost Things
by John Connolly
Our Louvre Quest tour is based on the belief that storytelling is an engaging way to understand art and history. That’s John Connolly’s approach as well. His fantasy novel tells the story of David, a 12-year old boy struggling with the loss of his mother. After a WWII bomber crashes in his garden, David finds himself transported into the fantasy realm of his books. Like the heroes featured in Louvre Quest, he must navigate a strange world of fairytale and myth to find the secret that will help him return home.
Recommended for 13 +
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Sandman
by Neil Gaiman (Graphic Novel)
In an epic quest to restore his kingdom, the Lord of Dreams must overcome seemingly impossible challenges and obstacles. Like many of the heroes featured on our Louvre Quest tour, the Lord of Dreams descends into the underworld and returns using cunning and ingenuity. This masterpiece of graphic storytelling weaves together ancient mythology, folklore and fairy tales with its own distinct narrative vision, creating a dark and vivid world all its own.
Recommended for 16 +
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Civilization V (Video Game)
by Sid Meier
Civilization is an ideal companion game to our Louvre Quest tour, as it features cultures represented in the Louvre’s collections: Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Early Modern Europe. Players lead these civilizations by guiding their growth over thousands of years. They ulitmately achieve victory through research, exploration, diplomacy, expansion, and military conquest.
Recommended for 12 +
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His Dark Materials
by Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman’s highly acclaimed His Dark Materials series includes three novels: Northern Lights (published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. The series recounts the coming of age of Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry as they travel through a series of parallel universes. Just like the heroes in Louvre Quest, these two protagonists discover what they are seeking only at the end of their journey. The trilogy functions, in part, as a retelling of John Milton’s classic Paradise Lost, masterfully conjuring both magical and convincing worlds.
Recommended for 14 +
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Gilgamesh the Hero
by Geraldine McCaughrean (with illustrations by David Perkins)
The epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest surviving works of literature. It recounts the adventures of a hero-king and his quest for immortality. This Ancient Near Eastern epic influenced how many Mesopotamian rulers (featured in Louvre Quest) thought about kingship. In this beautifully illustrated edition, Geraldine McCaughrean retells the classic tale in a style relevant to the contemporary teen reader.
Recommended for 12 +
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The Royal Game of Ur (Board Game)
Before exploring the cultures of Ancient Mesopotamia on our Louvre Quest tour, why not learn to play one of their games? This version of the Royal Game of Ur is a replica of the oldest-known board game for which the original rules survive. The oldest sets—discovered in Iraq in the 1920s—date to around 2600 BC. It’s a racing game in which you roll dice to move pawns towards the goal. If you’d like to play a game that has outlasted the world’s greatest empires then this is definitely for you!
Recommended for all ages
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Chronicles of Ancient Egypt
by Jonathan Dee
These tales from Ancient Egypt are ideal preparation for exploring Egypt on our Louvre Quest tour. The book features the enduring myths upon which Ancient Egyptian belief systems were based. In reading the Chronicles, you’ll travel with the sun god Ra from the daytime sky through the Gates of Night. You’ll also learn about the love of Isis and Osiris which lasted beyond even death, and provided the basis for Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife. The story cycle takes place during the 13th-century BC reign of Ramses the Great, who built the obelisk that now stands at the Place de la Concorde, and is visible from the start of our Louvre Quest tour.
Recommended 13 +
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The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths Retold
by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Carson Ellis
The myths of Ancient Greece run through the second half of Louvre Quest, when families explore how these myths were adapted by generations of artists to express the fundamental human emotions of pride, jealousy, and love. Cynthia Rylant’s retelling of six of these myths breathes new life into the ancient stories. Carson Ellis’s black and white illustrations capture their timeless mystery and beauty. Maybe that’s why it’s been recommended on Oprah’s Book Finder!
Recommended for 12 +
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The Songs of the Kings
by Barry Unsworth
The scheming of the goddess Aphrodite (a main character in Louvre Quest) was thought to be a cause of the Trojan War. This novel tells the story of a Greek fleet stranded on its way to Troy. After the appearance of omens, King Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces, is persuaded to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to turn the winds in the fleet’s favor. Ancient accounts of the story are found in Homer and Euripides; Unsworth remains faithful to these sources. His retelling makes the tale more accessible—at times even comic—modernizing it for the contemporary reader.
Recommended for 16 +
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The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek
by Barry Cunliffe
This book recounts the adventures of the explorer Pytheas who, in 330 BC, was the first Greek to explore Northern Europe. The original account of his story has been lost, but it is referred to in various other texts. Barry Culiffe, professor of European Archaeology, combines these fragmentary accounts with archaeological evidence to piece together what Pytheas may have seen and experienced on his travels. Written in a clear and engaging style, The Extraordinary Voyage is an invaluable chapter to the book of European history.
Recommended for 16 +
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The Second Mrs. Giaconda
by E.L. Konigsburg
Why is it that Leonardo da Vinci spent three years painting the Mona Lisa, a portrait of the second wife of an unimportant merchant? In this mystery novel Konigsburg offers an imaginative explanation, weaving a web of intrigue around Leonardo’s wayward assistant Salai, the Duke of Milan, and his neglected second wife Beatrice. This is an exciting and thought-provoking introduction to the many mysteries surrounding Mona Lisa, one of the stars of Louvre Quest.
Recommended for 11 +
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