Mummies and Their Mysteries (Photo Book)

``You may have mixed feelings about seeing a mummy,'' writes the author of Trash! (1988) and A Skyscraper Story (1990); but ``remember that a mummy, though once really alive, is now really dead.'' Suggesting that mummies be viewed with respect rather than jokes or revulsion (though she's not above an occasional joke herself--one hideous specimen is labeled ``Miss Chile''), Wilcox uses examples from around the world to show what can be learned from them: why many Egyptian mummies have badly worn teeth; why so few Incan men were found at the burial site near Pisco; what killed members of the 1845 Franklin expedition in northern Canada; the wealth of cultural detail preserved with the bog people; a 5000- year-old hunter recently discovered in the Italian Alps. Wilcox describes the process of mummification, both accidental and deliberate (some Japanese Buddhist priests did it to themselves), and concludes with a look at modern mummies, including a gold- plated cat. Plenty of well-chosen color photos add meat to the bones, both enhancing the lively text and inducing delicious shudders. Glossary; brief list of places to visit; index. (Nonfiction. 10-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Those with a taste for the morbid (the cover photo is a close-up of a boy's mummified face) will here find everything they always wanted to know about mummies but were afraid to ask. As Wilcox explains, cadavers--human and animal--from all over the world were embalmed, often as part of some religious practice, or were mummified inadvertently as part of a greater natural process; the study of these mummies yields invaluable information. The author covers a wide range of topics, from the origin of the word "mummy" to "How Bogs Make Mummies." She describes mummies in ancient Egypt as well as those found in the American Southwest, the Arctic and Western Europe. The narrative is punctuated with color photographs with intriguing captions as well as sidebars containing detailed information on such topics as "How to Make an Egyptian Mummy." Kids fascinated by mortal oddities (a la Ripley's) will love this well-researched and nicely designed book. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.