Cat Mummies [Paperback]

Kelly Trumble (Author), Laszlo Kubinyi (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Mummies are a fascinating legacy of ancient Egypt, probably the one that's most familiar today. But did you know that the Egyptians mummified animals as well as humans? Many different kinds of animal mummies have been discovered in Egypt, among them hundreds of thousands of cat mummies. Why did the Egyptians mummify so many cats? To answer this question, Cat Mummies describes the important part cats played in Egyptian religious belief and practice over thousands of ears. Meticulously researched text and illustrations offer a fresh look at everyday life in an ancient civilization, and at a remarkable chapter in the history of the domestic cat.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6?Trumble explains and elaborates on a fact that most children's books just make mention of: Egyptians worshipped cats and mummified them using the same techniques they used to preserve their pharaohs. Extensive research is evident in the many original sources quoted and the lengthy bibliography. What emerges from this volume is a fascinating legend of how the Egyptians' devotion to the sacred animals became fanatical?people would rescue their felines from burning buildings and let their belongings go up in smoke?and eventually led to their downfall. In 525 B.C., the Persians shrewdly released cats onto the battlefield; the Egyptians were so confused by trying to avoid killing the whiskered deities that they lost the war. Kubinyi's soft-focus watercolors work well to explain and break up the text. Footnotes, a chronology, a glossary, and a list of museums with cat mummies all reiterate the author's thoroughness in researching her topic.?Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-6. Trumble puts a new twist on kids' fascination with mummies--she introduces them to cat mummies. The book starts off intriguingly with the discovery in an Egyptian desert of thousands and thousands of cat mummies that had lain undisturbed for two millennia. How did they get there? And why were cats so important to the Egyptians? To answer those questions, Trumble takes readers back in time to the beginnings of Egyptian civilization, when animal totems protected tribes. Cats, sacred animals and objects of veneration, deserved respect in burial and thus came the mummifications. As in all historical nonfiction, there are lots of names that kids will not be familiar with and dates that tend to impede the flow of the narrative, but Trumble does a good job of keeping the focus on the most interesting part of her story. An enormous help in that regard is Laszlo Kubinyi's artwork. The delightful watercolors not only visually expand the text but also have an easy, inviting quality to them that draws readers right in, starting with the cat mummies on the cover, some wrapped in linen, others with faces of gold. A short description of human mummification, notes, a bibliography, a chronology of Egyptian history, and a list of names and terms are appended in a book that should interest students and browsers alike. Ilene Cooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper (August 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395968917
• ISBN-13: 978-0395968918
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and Sweet, February 2, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Cat Mummies (Hardcover)

Short and Sweet are the only words that can describe this book. With beautiful color illustrations on every page, you can really begin to understand what these people and their surroundings looked like and what they believed in. Even though I rated this book 5 stars, because of the wonderful artwork and descriptive words, this book was very short. I'm in the 7th Grade, and it only took me 10 minutes to finish, so I recommend just reading it in your library or bookstore rather than buying it outright. All in all, 'Cat Mummies' was very informative, though it could have been just a bit longer.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glad I Bought It!, September 10, 2005

By 

True Lucy Maud Montgomery Fan (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cat Mummies (Paperback)

What an amazing find! We came across this book while looking for Ancient Egypt textbooks and we love it. The author has done an outstanding job and is obviously well researched. The fascination the Egyptians had with cats is very interesting and this book draws you straight into it. Highly recommended and the illustrations are the perfect accompaniment. Just lovely!

5.0 out of 5 stars Cat Mummies is a very good book, it provides good info., November 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cat Mummies (Hardcover)

This is a good book because it provides a different side to mummies. It has beautiful color drawings of some mummies. It can be helpful when doing a report ,or making a model of one as I did. This book also provides other sources to look at. If you are interested look in your local library or bookstore. (Great for young readers and Egypt book worms)