Mummies: The Newest, Coolest & Creepiest from Around the World [Hardcover]

Shelley Tanaka (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: K and up

It's here! Mummies: The Newest, Coolest, and Creepiest, unlike any before it, a Mummies book with never-before-seen photographs and illustrations of mummies around the world.

With amazing new discoveries made every year, archeologists have only scratched the surface of the secrets of these mummies hold. The ghoulish allure that has attracted young readers to mummies can also lead children to explore and learn about the mysterious ancient cultures, like Egypt, from which these mummies came. This fascinating account of the latest mummy finds from around the world will captivate young readers as it explores the technological methods and forensic clues scientist use to investigate the mysteries of ancient civilizations.

With color photos and detailed accounts of some of the most exciting recent mummy finds, this book promises to educate while it entertains.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 3-7–Richly colored photographs, many of them large and more than a little grisly, characterize this wide-ranging look at an always-popular topic. After a brief discussion of mummification and the sorts of places in which mummified bodies have been found, Tanaka organizes her text by continent. Simple outlined and colored maps display the countries featured, supplementing the author's descriptions of the local conditions–from the frozen heights of the Andes to the Arctic or near-Arctic steppes to the harsh Egyptian and Chinese deserts. The main text for each mummy or cache of mummies is generally a few paragraphs, often supported by a shorter text, both of which are illustrated by photographs or reproductions. The account of the medieval graveyard at Zeleniy Yar in Siberia, for example, is accompanied by a sidebar about migratory invaders such as the Scythians from central Asia. Tanaka surveys the varying ways in which people prepared the bodies of their loved ones for survival and how scientists have dealt with them after discovery. She includes the 18th-century, skinless mummies that artist Honoré Fragonard preserved using wax and alcohol, and the more recent examples of plastinated bodies and the publicly displayed remains of Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin. A short bibliography and an extensive index are included. An impressive addition to shelves that can always use another title.–Coop Renner, Hillside Elementary, El Paso, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 4-7. Shriveled, startlingly intact, full-color mummy faces fill the pages of this compendium of mummies around the world. Organized by region (pictured in small inset maps), the short chapters introduce great discoveries--from Tutankhamun to the 5,000-year-old body of a child found in Chile and the mummies of modern-day Buddhist monks on display in Thailand, sunglasses placed over eye sockets. Throughout, the author reinforces the scientific importance of mummy finds, discussing what the bodies reveal about the health, diet, cultural habits, and migration of ancient societies. Not for the squeamish, the descriptions are graphic, and, like the riveting photos, they will draw kids right into the science: "The brain tissue poured out pink, with a little blood, like a strawberry milkshake." Chapters on how mummies are made and preserved, as well as examples of modern mummies (Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong) close this fascinating title, which also includes a time line and bibliography. For more mummy titles that reach beyond Egypt, suggest James Deem's Bodies from the Bog (1998) and Harriet Griffey's Secrets of the Dead (1998). Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810957973
• ISBN-13: 978-0810957978
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,559,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)