The Egypt Game is about two girls, Melanie and April, who live in the same apartment building and become friends because they share a love of Egypt. Soon two boys from school, Ken and Toby, Melanie�s little brother, Marshall, and another girl from the building, Elizabeth, have joined the group. They create props and costumes and start playing �Egypt� in an abandoned storage yard behind an antiques shop. Soon strange things start happening in the storage yard that the children can�t explain and they wonder if maybe the Egypt game has become more than just a game. Then a neighborhood child goes missing and is found murdered. By continuing to meet at the storage yard and play their game, the children inadvertently catch the killer, and come to be friends with the mysterious owner of the antiques shop, the Professor.
These two stories are similar in the way in which Snyder mixes "fantasy and realism" so well that the reader has a hard time distinguishing between the two (Moore 1995). In The Trespassers, Snyder does this by tying Neely�s �bad feelings� in with the idea that the Halycon House might be haunted. The reader isn�t sure if Neely is just being paranoid or if there is something dangerous in the Halycon House. And if there is something dangerous, is it a real danger, or a supernatural danger? In The Egypt Game, strange things keep happening during the game. For instance, the children create an oracle and leave a question in it written in secret code. When they return to the storage yard the next day, there is a different coded message lying in the oracle that has answered their question. The reader doesn�t know if the oracle really does have some sort of special powers, or if someone is playing a trick on the children.
The books both have similar plot structures as well. In both books, the children go somewhere they aren�t supposed to be, the Halycon House in The Trespassers, and the abandoned storage yard in The Egypt Game. The plot continues on slowly for awhile until something happens to change the moods of the characters. In The Egypt Game it is the kidnap and murder of a neighborhood child. In The Trespassers, it is the arrival of the Halycon heirs to the house. Then in both stories one of the characters is placed into a dangerous situation that serves as the climax of the book. In The Egypt Game this is when April is grabbed by the kidnapper. In The Trespassers it is when Curtis tries to shoot Grub because he�s jealous of the attention he gets. One big difference in the two books however, is that The Egypt Game has some smaller subplots that don�t surface in The Trespassers. These subplots don�t have separate resolutions though, because the plot conflict for each subplot is resolved at the end along with the main conflict. For instance, the secret message from the oracle is a mystery that must be solved, as well as when Marshall�s stuffed animal disappears. These mysteries are solved at the end of the story after the murderer is captured and the children meet their guardian angel, the Professor.
The character development in both stories is similar. The characters are richly described and the reader comes away with a real sense that they know these characters. In The Egypt Game, the description of April as being independent, head strong, and a natural born leader is completely apparent as you read the book. You can see this in the way she wants to play the game as well as her opinions on having other members join and the way in which she treats the other members. The same is true in The Trespassers. Neely is a caring girl who is mature well beyond her years and well liked by everyone she meets. It�s impossible to read the book and not want to be friends with her, the reader feels like they know her that well.
The main difference between these two stories is the supernatural element. In The Egypt Game, as is true in the majority of Snyder�s works, the supernatural element is disproved in the resolution of the story. The mysterious things that were happening in regards to the game have a logical explanation. However, in The Trespassers this doesn�t really take place. At the end of the story, the reader is left still wondering if the Halycon House was haunted. Grub tells Neely that he was friends with the ghost girl who lived there, and now the girl is free to leave the house. This is never explained and it leaves the reader thinking that perhaps this ghost was real.
Another similarity is the way in which Snyder weaves serious subject matter into the stories. In The Trespassers, this serious subject is childhood mental illness and the danger of children having access to their parents� guns. In The Egypt Game the subject is kidnapping and murder, and perhaps even child molestation is hinted at. Despite these serious subjects, both books have happy endings, which helps characterize the audience these books are for. The Egypt Game will appeal more to children who like an element of comedy in their reading. The interactions between the six group members in this story are truly hilarious, especially the way in which April refuses to take any crap from the two boys. The relationship between Neely and Grub, in The Trespassers, is too much like that of a mother and a child to have the humor of the relationships between friends in The Egypt Game.
These books are both mysteries that will appeal to children in late elementary school to middle school who enjoy page turners but don�t want to come away from the book feeling truly frightened. While The Egypt Game was a Newbery Honor book, The Trespassers received positive reviews as well and was recognized by the Junior Library Guild and the Children�s Book of the Month Club. Both are well written, enjoyable stories that will appeal to many children.