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Why were mummies mummified? These mysterious corpses provide a fascinating window on the past of cultures worldwide. Mummies has plenty of ghoulish intrigue to keep young readers reading. This irresistible title provides the solid science behind the myths and guarantees a successful and rewarding reading experience for kids at Level 2. Mummiesis a compelling combination of fun, facts, jokes and captivating photography.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
14 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Carney
83 books21 followersElizabeth Carney is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. She specializes in children's nonfiction and science, math, and STEM-related subjects.
Elizabeth received the 2005 AAAS Science Journalism Award for science reporting for children. Her titles Face to Face With Cheetahs, Face to Face With Gorillas, and Great Migrations: Whales, Wildebeests, Butterflies, Elephants, and Other Amazing Animals on the Move appeared on the National Science Teachers Association's Outstanding Science Trade Book list for 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively.
Elizabeth received the 2005 AAAS Science Journalism Award for science reporting for children. Her titles Face to Face With Cheetahs, Face to Face With Gorillas, and Great Migrations: Whales, Wildebeests, Butterflies, Elephants, and Other Amazing Animals on the Move appeared on the National Science Teachers Association's Outstanding Science Trade Book list for 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 31, 2011
Brontë: I know who my two favourite people are?
Pa: Whoa, slow down Maurice. Let me get ready. Okay go.
Brontë: You know how many people I liked?
Pa: Two.
Brontë: No. Four.
Pa: Okay. What ones?
Brontë: Tollund Man.
Pa: He's one of my favourites!
Brontë: I know. He's one of my favourites too. And Lady Dai. She's freaky. And this guy *she points to a picture,* Jeremy Bentham.
Pa: That's only three.
Brontë: Well there was one more, one of my favourite parts. This guy -- Ötzi. I liked the Ice Man. He was cool.
Pa: So you dug the non-Egyptian mummies the most. Which was your favourite?
Brontë: Tollund Man.
Pa: How come?
Brontë: I don't know. Because he is just really cool. And I like how you can actually see his bones. It's like a clay ... like a statue of him, like he fell down, only it is an actual mummy.
Pa: How did he die?
Brontë: He got strangled. But nobody knows for sure how it happened, if he strangled himself, if somebody strangled him. It's pretty cool.
Pa: So what else did you dig.
Brontë: I digged Lady Dai because when I turned the page and saw her I jumped back and said "Holy! that is very weird." And I was like she looked way fatter than she did when she was alive, but that's because they did lots and lots and lots and lots of layers of salt on her. So more layers make her bigger. It was pretty cool. She was buried in a sand thing, that was like a sand attic, or a basement actually, and it was really little and it was full of sand. It was really cool.
Pa: Where was she from?
Brontë: Chinese. She's chinese. She's from China. I couldn't believe that they had a Mummy in China. What I liked about this book is that it is the first book that I've had where they show you how to make a Mummy. It's on page 18 and 19.
Pa: So are you going to make one.
Brontë: Yep. Once you die I am going to make a Mummy out of you. But if you don't mind I think you'll look a little fatter because of the layers of salt.
Pa: I won't mind.
Brontë: Good.
Pa: Anything else you want to say?
Brontë: There was a great joke. You know this one, though: Why did the Mummy call the Doctor?
Pa: Why?
Brontë: Because he was coffin. I like that one.
Pa: You're a cheeseball.
Brontë: Thank you.
Pa: You're welcome. Good work.
Brontë: Thank you.
Pa: You're welcome. Good bye.
Brontë: Good bye again.
(gotta love Go Dog. Go. references)
Pa: Whoa, slow down Maurice. Let me get ready. Okay go.
Brontë: You know how many people I liked?
Pa: Two.
Brontë: No. Four.
Pa: Okay. What ones?
Brontë: Tollund Man.
Pa: He's one of my favourites!
Brontë: I know. He's one of my favourites too. And Lady Dai. She's freaky. And this guy *she points to a picture,* Jeremy Bentham.
Pa: That's only three.
Brontë: Well there was one more, one of my favourite parts. This guy -- Ötzi. I liked the Ice Man. He was cool.
Pa: So you dug the non-Egyptian mummies the most. Which was your favourite?
Brontë: Tollund Man.
Pa: How come?
Brontë: I don't know. Because he is just really cool. And I like how you can actually see his bones. It's like a clay ... like a statue of him, like he fell down, only it is an actual mummy.
Pa: How did he die?
Brontë: He got strangled. But nobody knows for sure how it happened, if he strangled himself, if somebody strangled him. It's pretty cool.
Pa: So what else did you dig.
Brontë: I digged Lady Dai because when I turned the page and saw her I jumped back and said "Holy! that is very weird." And I was like she looked way fatter than she did when she was alive, but that's because they did lots and lots and lots and lots of layers of salt on her. So more layers make her bigger. It was pretty cool. She was buried in a sand thing, that was like a sand attic, or a basement actually, and it was really little and it was full of sand. It was really cool.
Pa: Where was she from?
Brontë: Chinese. She's chinese. She's from China. I couldn't believe that they had a Mummy in China. What I liked about this book is that it is the first book that I've had where they show you how to make a Mummy. It's on page 18 and 19.
Pa: So are you going to make one.
Brontë: Yep. Once you die I am going to make a Mummy out of you. But if you don't mind I think you'll look a little fatter because of the layers of salt.
Pa: I won't mind.
Brontë: Good.
Pa: Anything else you want to say?
Brontë: There was a great joke. You know this one, though: Why did the Mummy call the Doctor?
Pa: Why?
Brontë: Because he was coffin. I like that one.
Pa: You're a cheeseball.
Brontë: Thank you.
Pa: You're welcome. Good work.
Brontë: Thank you.
Pa: You're welcome. Good bye.
Brontë: Good bye again.
(gotta love Go Dog. Go. references)
February 18, 2019
interesting
August 29, 2024
8/28/2024 - I wasn’t sure if this book would scare my 2 year old daughter, but it didn’t at all. It packed quite a lot of information and I learned a good amount, too. My one suggestion is that more word pronunciations should be included.
September 29, 2017
Summary: This book explains all about mummies. It talks about old to new mummies and all the mysteries in between.
Evaluation: There is lots of information that I learned from it as an adult. It is a National Geographic reader for kids, which is held as a high quality entity. Throughout the book, it has vocabulary words with their definitions such as decay, tomb, and mummify.
Teaching Idea: It would be a great nonfiction book when talking about ancient times or Egypt for younger readers. A lesson could be taught using this book to teach students how to read and gather information from nonfiction texts.
m-ijo-s-2025-shelf
January 20, 2025I tried to warn my little guy, that this one might be a little scary for him right now, mainly because of the pictures, not because of the information. He insisted on checking it out at the library. We just read it for bedtime, and I enjoyed his curiosity about mummies. He seemed very interested. However, after we finished the book, he did admit it was a little scary. I really hope he doesn't end up with nightmares.
If your kids are interested in mummies and how they are made naturally or by man, this is a good early reader book. It has interesting facts and jokes. The photos themselves are a bit creepy, so if your child scares easily, maybe hold off until they are ready.
If your kids are interested in mummies and how they are made naturally or by man, this is a good early reader book. It has interesting facts and jokes. The photos themselves are a bit creepy, so if your child scares easily, maybe hold off until they are ready.
July 11, 2018
The best type of books are the ones the make want you want to KEEP LEARNING!
This book could probably take less than ten minutes to read but it took me over an hour - simply because I stopped at every other page to do some further digging.
Not only was the content inside the book entertaining, it definitely led to further discoveries outside of the book, and that's what a good book is all about.
This book could probably take less than ten minutes to read but it took me over an hour - simply because I stopped at every other page to do some further digging.
Not only was the content inside the book entertaining, it definitely led to further discoveries outside of the book, and that's what a good book is all about.
September 23, 2018
Fascinating! This book is for early readers, but I learned some new things as well. These National Geographic readers are perfect for kids to practice reading out loud ... and this mom actually looks forward to them.
July 13, 2018
Extra star because of the humor on one of the pages: they depict the employees playing cards while a corpse waits 40 days in salt, to dry out.
January 27, 2020
Great intro to mummies. My boy was fascinated.
March 10, 2020
My son really liked this book .
May 18, 2021
Interesting!
August 29, 2024
8/28/2024 - Momma thought I might get scared, but I didn’t! I paid attention and liked the “crumby mummy” joke 😄
January 12, 2025
Tämähän oli 5-vuotiaalle jopa vähän pelottava, etenkin kuvien osalta.
July 28, 2025
Great book with a lot of interesting information. The kids gave it a 4/5
June 12, 2015
This book is AMAZING! It completely captivated my 5 and 3 year old! So much that they made a "how to make a mummy" game that they played at a sleepover we hosted. It was precious watching them pretend to salt, dry, oil and them wrap one another up in bed sheets. This correlates well with our studies of Machu Picchu. Thank you National Geographic!
December 20, 2013
This was a great resource to go along with my semester field trip to the Tomb in Pigeon Forge and my field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum in October. I remembered things before we read it in the book.
May 7, 2014
My son got this book for studying about mummies and I read it with him. This fascinated me just as much as it did him. It really gets in depth about how and why there are mummies and the pictures are very vivid. Loved it!
October 1, 2012
An interesting book on real-life (not movie) mummies for kids, which handles the potentially gory business of mummy making in a thoughtful way.
November 14, 2012
So perfect for preschool and kindergarten-the perfect amount of information and great pictures to go along!
March 30, 2013
There are books that have a whole lot more detail about how mummies are made. This book left a lot out, I feel.
April 10, 2013
Gave just enough info and had cool, "creepy" photos.
October 23, 2014
My kids love this book.
February 20, 2016
Lots of facts but gross
For most of the book,It was interesting. But it was gross on the mummy making page when they took his BRAIN out of his NOSE!!!
For most of the book,It was interesting. But it was gross on the mummy making page when they took his BRAIN out of his NOSE!!!
January 8, 2017
Eh
I think this book is very interesting it helped me learn about mummies and embalmers. But I didn't like it because I thought the book was way to short.
I think this book is very interesting it helped me learn about mummies and embalmers. But I didn't like it because I thought the book was way to short.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews