Review by Booklist 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 Bog0 (1998) and Harriet Griffey's Secrets of the Dead 0 (1998). --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 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 Honor? 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
An interesting survey of mummification--a practice used not only in ancient Egypt--is illustrated by appropriately gruesome photos. However, some of the photos are hard to interpret and the layout of the information is occasionally confusing (e.g., the tiny two-part maps that begin each section are ineffective). A better timeline would have been helpful. Glos., ind. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Tanaka takes readers on a riveting tour of the mummified world, from Europe's prehistoric Iceman and a 7000-year-old South American child that is the world's oldest artificially created mummy, to glimpses of Lenin, Chairman Mao and a touring collection of icky modern examples created through a process called "plastination." Along with introducing several recently discovered examples that may be unfamiliar even to dedicated fans, she comments on what mummies can reveal about their cultures, some of the art and artifacts that have been recovered from burial sites and the causes and methods of mummification--including scientists' efforts to reconstruct ancient procedures (" 'the brain tissue poured out pink, with a little blood, like a strawberry milkshake,' said one of the researchers"). Well-endowed with close-up photos and fresh insights, this makes an unusually gripping (so to speak) study of the ever-popular topic. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
