Title: Magic Tree House Mummies and Pyramids
Author: Will and Mary Pope Osborne
Publisher: Scholastic
Rating: WORTHY!
Illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
This was a great little fact book for young children about ancient Egypt. My biggest problem with it was that it was focused on death rather than on life, but apart from that, I really liked it. It would have been nice of it had said a little bit about modern Egypt too, but since it was focused on mummies and pyramids, this omission was understandable.
The book is gorgeously illustrated with gray scale drawings to back up the text, We get an introductory chapter on ancient Egypt and a chapter on everyday life, and then it's into Egyptian religion, mummies, funerals, and the pyramids. I liked that it gives a brief history of how pyramid building began, so there's no room for the nonsensical claims of ancient astronauts or magical pyramid construction! They do err in talking of using wooden rollers for moving the building stones. Anyone who disagrees needs to ask themselves how, exactly, these rollers rolled over soft sand with the weight of a twenty ton block on them. I think sleds were a better bet.
The book also discusses tomb robbers, which I found rather hypocritical given that this discussion was followed by a discussion of how Tutankhamun's tomb was robbed by Howard Carter & co. Yes, those artifacts ended up in museums so everyone can see them, but this was no less tomb robbing than what the thieves had done. Egypt itself was robbed of these treasures, but that said, and given what Muslim extremists have done with ancient religious artifacts in other countries, perhaps the safest place for these things is well-away from such fanaticism.
So, in short, some issues, but overall, a nice little introduction to ancient Egypt for young minds. I recommend it.
