At the heart of the Secrets of the Tombs series is the friendship that forms between two very different teenagers who are thrown together when their parents' work brings them to the Valley of the Kings.
At first Cleo and Ryan seem to have nothing in common - and can hardly even figure out what the other is talking about - but that all changes as they find themselves working together and relying on each other as they face some seemingly impossible challenges . . .
Name: Ryan Flint
Age: 15
Likes: drawing, painting, comic books, computer games, Manchester United, animals
Parents: Julie Flint, investigative reporter; Eddie Flint, film maker (disappeared in South America five years ago)
Eyes: Grey with amber
Hair: Untidy, sand-coloured
Character: Friendly, good visual memory, intuitive, brave, funny, kind, superstitious, plays the clown
Usually seen with: Manchester United backpack full of pencils, sketchbook, comic books and snacks
Favourite outfit: t-shirt, shorts or jeans, trainers
Cleo on Ryan. "Ryan had only been in Eypt for forty-eight hours but he was already friends with half the population!"
Top Ryan Quotes: "I think there might be something in all those curses round that chamber. I stepped in a massive pile of donkey pooh on the way here and now I’ve got brain freeze!"
Trivia questions:
1. What is Ryan's favourite ice cream?
2. Who gave Ryan his St Christopher medal and when?
3. What name does Ryan give to the cat at the El-Masry cafe?
Name: Cleopatra (Cleo) McNeil
Age: 14
Likes: history, science,logic, maths, travel
Parents, Professor Lydia Bell McNeil archaeologist; Dr. Pete McNeil, paleopathologist
Hair: long, black
Eyes: green
Character: smart, logical, practical, loyal, kind, hard-working, no sense of direction, social skills not always great!
Usually seen with: tool belt containing archaeologist's trowel, brushes, magnifying glass.
Favourite outfit: baggy old t-shirt, long white cotton scarf, zip-off hiking shorts
Ryan on Cleo: "Sometimes he wondered whether Cleo had grown up on another planet somewhere on the far edge of the solar system!"
Top Cleo Quotes: "There are certain procedures and protocols that archaeologists follow, you know? It's not all just running around and grabbing treasures like in those Indiana Jones movies!"
Trivia questions:
1. What is Cleo's middle name?
2. What is Cleo's favourite ice cream?
3. Whose inititals are on the archaeological trowel Cleo always carries?
I'd love to know what your favourite Cleo and Ryan quotes are!
(Answers to the trivia questions can be found at the bottom of the page about hieroglyphs - in hieroglyphs, of course!)
And here are the clues to finding the names in hieroglyphics in the Chapter illustrations
Smenkhkare: Chapter 3
Rameses: Chapter 7
Iunu: Chapter 11
Amun: Chapter: Chapter 19
Valley of the Kings: Chapter 20
Nefertiti: Chapter 28
Akhenaten: Chapter 29
Tutenkhamen: Chapter 33
