The Secret of the Sacred Scarab (The Chronicles of the Stone, Book One)

Eleven-year-old Horace j. Edwards is an ordinary boy whose family has just moved to Niles, Michigan. But on the first day of sixth grade, mysterious things start to happen. His grandfather dies and Horace receives a strange gift--a stone scarab beetle. As he works to uncover the secrets surrounding his grandfather's death and the beetle, Horace is transported back in time to the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna. He meets the future pharaoh, young King Tut, and together the two boys become engaged in a fight to save the city from total destruction and Egypt itself from Tut's evil uncle Smenk. In the process, Horace discovers that he is the heir to an order of guardians, known as the Keepers of Time. The Secret of the Scarab Beetle is the first book in the middle-grade fantasy series Horace j. Edwards and the Time Keepers.

Jonathan never intended to be hunted down by a madman working for an evil Egyptian god. All he wanted was to be an Egyptologist like his dad. But that fateful day nine years ago when he found the scarab changed everything. Now his father is missing, and Jonathan has no choice but to head back to Egypt to find him. But the journey will be dangerous, especially with Set, the God of Storms and Chaos, hunting him. Even with his protector, the God Khepri, tucked inside the scarab, ready to emerge whenever Jonathan rubs the small beetle, Jonathan doesn’t feel entirely safe. But he knows he must do this, not only for his father, but also for himself, to prove he is more than just his father’s son. Enlisting the help of his best friend Nathan, Jonathan heads to the last site his father worked at, only to discover yet another mystery—someone has stolen the camp’s newly found artifacts. Could whoever kidnapped his father be behind the thefts too? With new friends and new vigour, Jonathan sets out to find his father, recover the missing artifacts, and proclaim his independence.

Jean-Henri Fabre was a famous French entomologist whose observations of insects were praised - this examination of various beetles is characteristic of his meticulous yet engrossing descriptions. Fabre's greatest talent was rooted in his genuine passion for entomology; a natural ability to observe the quirks and habits of small creatures, and describe them to others in a plain but lively way. As demonstrated in this book, he wrote about insects as if they were his friends - seeing their lives play out, it is thus that qualities of biography are found alongside the scientific value of this work. In life, Fabre met with backlash for his unique style - formal schools, whom he in turn criticized for dryness of tutoring - considered his books long-winded, or even frivolous. Nevertheless he managed to connect atmospheric pressure to the behavior of certain insects, while contemporaries such as Charles Darwin held Fabre in high esteem, to the point of finding his studies inspirational.

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