How to Make a Mummy Talk [Hardcover]

James M. Deem (Author), TRUE Kelley (Illustrator)

Book Description

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

Come along for a mummy discovery tour spanning both centuries and continents. On the way, readers can learn what mummies are, how they are created, and where they have been found. Readers will also discover how scientists investigate mummies, where to visit mummies, and why they are an endangered species.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8?Deem examines mummies from all around the world and from all different time periods to create a thorough, not-for-the-squeamish portrait of what it takes to become mummified. Many methods of preservation are explained, including those that were accidental, such as bodies that were preserved by ice, bogs, or desert sands. The author provides plenty of intriguing anecdotes and tips off readers on where to track down museums that display mummies and where to read more about them. Like Nathaniel Harris's Mummies (Watts, 1995), this title relies on drawings rather than photographs for illustrations. Visually, both Deem's and Harris's volumes pale in comparison to Jim Putnam's Mummy (Knopf, 1993). While Kelley's black-and-white drawings are informative, they are cartoonlike and sketchy. Though there's a bundle of information in Deem's book, its lack of commanding illustrations?a crucial element for this subject matter?may make Putnam's title more popular.?Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-7. Deem's aim is to transform mummies from being gross curiosities to being witnesses of past history. That may be one reason black-and-white sketches are used instead of photographs. Deem covers related history (ancient and as recent as the twentieth century), carefully defines kinds of mummies, and examines the issue of respect for the dead in different cultures. Drawings by True Kelley maintain some sense of humor about the quest for mummy knowledge. An up-to-date bibliography and a general tone of excitement about what can be learned from mummies make the book of interest to budding Egyptologists and physical anthropologists. Mary Harris Veeder

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395624274
• ISBN-13: 978-0395624272
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,833,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James M. Deem is the author of numerous books of nonfiction and fiction, including the 2009 Sibert Honor Book, Bodies from the Ice: Melting glaciers and the recovery of the past.

Born in Wheeling, West Virginia, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, with his family when he was eleven. He earned a Bachelor's degree in language arts from the University of Kansas followed by a master's degree and a doctorate in reading education at the University of Michigan. For twenty-seven years, he taught reading and study skills to underprepared college students. He once again lives in Tucson with his wife Susan and now writes fulltime.

His most recent books include the award-winning series: Bodies from the Bog, Bodies from the Ash, and Bodies from the Ice.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be a Mummy Dummy!! Read this book!!, November 9, 2000

By 

Chess Heart "paxbear" (Canton, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: How to Make a Mummy Talk (Hardcover)

To the western mind, mummies have always conjured up mental scenes of dusty, Egyptian tombs where a white-haired archeologist is suddenly set upon by a bandage-wrapped figure that unexpectedly throttles him to death. We'll see young children who have very patiently bound themselves up with layers of toilet paper lumber down the street at Halloween groaning out tricks or treats. The few of us who have actually SEEN a real mummy often find them rather disturbing looking or, in the words of one of my students, "eeeewwwww!!!"

Here to lay many of those untrue myths to their final rest (pun intended) are James M. Deem and True Kelley with their book, "How to Make a Mummy Talk." The book takes some of the most popular myths and untruths of mummies (mummies are all from Egypt, mummies are all found in tombs, etc) and sets the record straight.

While the intentional preservation of deceased humans by mummification is thousands of years old, as in the case of Egyptian Pharos, this is certainly not the only place, time or way that mummies have been made. In fact, the oldest mummies don't even come from Egypt: they hail from South America. Mummies have been found in sand and ice as well.

Deem and Kelly do a fine job of explaining why there are so many myths about mummies and do an excellent job of explaining how mummies GOT that way in the first place. The long and complicated process of Egyptian mummification (which often took 70 days or longer) is well explained here, as are the natural processes at work for what might be called "accidental" mummies: people like the Iceman who froze to death but were preserved by natural forces.

Mummies have been misunderstood throughout history, and often denied the respect they deserve--during the 1800's mummies were bought and ground up as medicine! It's high time that this change. A good way to instigate some of this change is to get this book and read it! Practically every student is at least passingly interested in mummies. Take advantage of this interest, and provide them with the useful, CORRECT information in this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read and filled with facts, October 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Make a Mummy Talk (Paperback)

This is a very good book. I like the drawings but, there should be more of them. I know a lot about mummies, but I didn't know the majority of the things that are there. I think everyone should read it.

4.0 out of 5 stars MUMMIES REVEALED! (through Forensics), May 7, 2005

By 

DRYWASHER-BILL (LAS VEGAS, NEVADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Make a Mummy Talk (Hardcover)

A decently written book, on a simplified plane, that explains basic concepts of archaeology to a middle school student, and older. An interesting synopsis of various facets of investigation, history, frauds and cons, transport, science investigations, and anecdotal recitals of interest.
I LIKE THIS BOOK BECAUSE it not only talks of mummies but of the process of mummification of various things, give experiments, and opens up insight into archaeological methods and goals. written for the younger crowd, the older crowd can learn a few things. The author has put a lot of information into the book, on a level that all can comprehend and appreciate.
I once thought that Mummies were few and far between, but read later that there were so many mummies found in/on the Nile Plain, that those that weren't in Museums, were ground up into a medical powder that people swallowed (mostly Brits and French (probably the reason they are now so into Scotch and Cognac)) that made people far sicker than they were before the `cure'; and a goodly amount, say 30,000, were used to fire the boilers of the Egyptian Railroad (the mummy embalming and subsequent body dehydration rendered a fuel that had a high Btu coefficient).
Topics include The Mummy Mythology Test; Where Mummies have Been Found; The Iceman; Flexed Mummies; Extended Mummies; Pet Mummies; Animal unfinished meals; Curses; The art of Artificial Mummy Making; Sand Mummy; Molded Mummies; Burial Tombs; Andean Finds; Scythian (Russian) Mummies; Mummies by Accident (or rather, "Be careful when walking through a Peat Bog); Frozen types; Tattooing; Tollund man; Forensic Examinations; Lindow Man; Mummies who get around; Mummy Dummies; Graverobbers; Doctors and their `cures'; Treasure Hunters and Antique Collectors; Mummy Magicians; Carnys and Sideshow Operators; Where to go to see a mummy.