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Mummies
Meet mummies from different cultures and countries, including Egypt, Greenland, the United States, and Irian Jaya.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
63 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2001
35 people want to read
About the author
John Malam
414 books13 followersJohn Malam is a British historian, archaeologist, and author of numerous children's non-fiction books. He attended the University of Birmingham.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 5, 2013
Mummies And The Secrets Of Ancient Egypt by John Malam
Published: 2001
Age range: 5 - 11 years
Brief Synopsis:
Written by John Malam and using researched information from Dr Joann Fletcher, this factual information book presents useful and interesting facts about Ancient Egypt. With thirteen chapters, the book explains how and why people became persevered in mummy form, enlightens the audience on the brief history of Ancient Egypt and explains the importance of the River Nile on keeping the population alive for more than three-thousand years during Ancient Egyptian rule. The book is filled with interesting pictures and photos, providing evidence to support the facts.
My Opinion :
The focus of this book is on Mummies; nevertheless it provides some very useful information about Ancient Egypt, mythology, the River Nile and hieroglyphics.
I personally would not read the whole book to a class, but would choose some interesting chapters to read to occupancy topics. I think it would be more useful to read mythologies about Egypt and support it with some facts from the book.
This is a very simple book in terms of information. It does not delve too deep into explaining the history of Ancient Egypt. However it does provide a starting point for young readers to interest and intrigue them into finding out more.
The ‘Reference Section’ at the back of the book is the most appealing to me as there is a condensed timeline of the different Dynasties during Pharaoh rule. It also provides a list of Pharaohs and the Gods they believed in.
Uses In The Classroom :
The book is useful in sections, for classes in Key stage one, the chapters on Mummies could be used to accompany a creative project on making mummy like masks, as it provides a lot of visual support. Whereas the chapter on ‘Images in Writing’ could be used to explain what hieroglyphics are and as a class activity allow students to of decode sentences. This allows young children to develop and deepen their non-verbal reasoning skills, whilst teaching them how Ancient Egyptians used to communicate using different forms of writing to us today.
For older primary students, aged eight and above the book can be used as an additional resource to encourage students to write their own facts about Ancient Egypt. As a class project, using some extracts from this book to explain the main points of information and allow students to present it creatively using Egyptian related materials and colours, such as written on stone plaques or scrolls.
In addition to creative exercises informing students about Ancient Egypt, I think a good idea would be to explain the main Gods Egyptians believed in and as a creative writing exercise promote students into thinking and writing about their own Ancient Egyptian inspired Gods. Where students can think of the powers their Gods might have and incorporate them into their own stories.
Overall this is a good starting point for independent readers aged eight to eleven to provide them with background knowledge on the topic of Ancient Egypt.
Published: 2001
Age range: 5 - 11 years
Brief Synopsis:
Written by John Malam and using researched information from Dr Joann Fletcher, this factual information book presents useful and interesting facts about Ancient Egypt. With thirteen chapters, the book explains how and why people became persevered in mummy form, enlightens the audience on the brief history of Ancient Egypt and explains the importance of the River Nile on keeping the population alive for more than three-thousand years during Ancient Egyptian rule. The book is filled with interesting pictures and photos, providing evidence to support the facts.
My Opinion :
The focus of this book is on Mummies; nevertheless it provides some very useful information about Ancient Egypt, mythology, the River Nile and hieroglyphics.
I personally would not read the whole book to a class, but would choose some interesting chapters to read to occupancy topics. I think it would be more useful to read mythologies about Egypt and support it with some facts from the book.
This is a very simple book in terms of information. It does not delve too deep into explaining the history of Ancient Egypt. However it does provide a starting point for young readers to interest and intrigue them into finding out more.
The ‘Reference Section’ at the back of the book is the most appealing to me as there is a condensed timeline of the different Dynasties during Pharaoh rule. It also provides a list of Pharaohs and the Gods they believed in.
Uses In The Classroom :
The book is useful in sections, for classes in Key stage one, the chapters on Mummies could be used to accompany a creative project on making mummy like masks, as it provides a lot of visual support. Whereas the chapter on ‘Images in Writing’ could be used to explain what hieroglyphics are and as a class activity allow students to of decode sentences. This allows young children to develop and deepen their non-verbal reasoning skills, whilst teaching them how Ancient Egyptians used to communicate using different forms of writing to us today.
For older primary students, aged eight and above the book can be used as an additional resource to encourage students to write their own facts about Ancient Egypt. As a class project, using some extracts from this book to explain the main points of information and allow students to present it creatively using Egyptian related materials and colours, such as written on stone plaques or scrolls.
In addition to creative exercises informing students about Ancient Egypt, I think a good idea would be to explain the main Gods Egyptians believed in and as a creative writing exercise promote students into thinking and writing about their own Ancient Egyptian inspired Gods. Where students can think of the powers their Gods might have and incorporate them into their own stories.
Overall this is a good starting point for independent readers aged eight to eleven to provide them with background knowledge on the topic of Ancient Egypt.
May 28, 2020
Though I have read about many of the cases and mummies in this book, I still managed to learn something.
May 11, 2015
Personal reaction
This book was filled with variety of information about mummies. It would be a good resource book for children who are looking to find factual information on mummies. I thought the pictures were incorporated very well with the text. They were a good addition to the explanation of mummies.
Purpose in classroom
I would read this book aloud in a social studies unit to further explore the history about mummies. This book answers questions about where mummies came from, the reason why Egypt’s make mummies and even how the Egyptians went about making a mummy. This book would be beneficial for fourth and fifth graders. The reading level for grades lower than fourth might be a little too challenging. There a real life mummy pictures that I believe with engage the students. Student could evaluate the culture at the time in Egypt. The book demonstrates how the wealthy kings were valued even after they were dead.
This book was filled with variety of information about mummies. It would be a good resource book for children who are looking to find factual information on mummies. I thought the pictures were incorporated very well with the text. They were a good addition to the explanation of mummies.
Purpose in classroom
I would read this book aloud in a social studies unit to further explore the history about mummies. This book answers questions about where mummies came from, the reason why Egypt’s make mummies and even how the Egyptians went about making a mummy. This book would be beneficial for fourth and fifth graders. The reading level for grades lower than fourth might be a little too challenging. There a real life mummy pictures that I believe with engage the students. Student could evaluate the culture at the time in Egypt. The book demonstrates how the wealthy kings were valued even after they were dead.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews