The Cursed Scarab

The Haunted Museum #4

by Suzanne Weyn

Don't touch anything in The Haunted Museum! Taylor has always felt a little like she belonged in ancient Egypt more than she does in the modern day. But when she helps stop a robbery at a branch of The Haunted Museum, the scarab she picks up doesn't seem to want to let her go. Mysterious people follow her from the U.S. all the way to Egypt. Scarabs appear from nowhere. Her dreams (or are they visions?) take her far into the past and show her secrets that have long been buried in desert sands. None of it makes sense, and no one seems to believe that anything out of the ordinary is happening.If Taylor can't untangle the present from the past and break the ancient curse she'd unleashed, she knows that she might be entombed in Egypt forever!

Genres: Middle Grade, Mystery

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2015

About the author

Suzanne Weyn grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, New York. She has three sisters and a brother. As a girl, she was very interested in theatre and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author, but she also read every Sherlock Holmes story. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of her favorite activities. Even today, if she goes too long without seeing the ocean, she starts feeling restless.

Suzanne now lives in upper New York State with her husband, two teen daughters and Abby the cat. Her house is at the edge of the woods and is nearly 200 years old. She graduated from State University of New York at Binghamton and received her master's degree from Pace University. She teaches part-time at City College in New York.

Suzanne's other books for Simon Pulse include South Beach Sizzle, a romantic comedy written with Diana Gonzalez. Her novels for the Simon Pulse line "Once Upon a Time" are The Night Dance: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Water Song: A Retelling of the Frog Prince, and The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of Rumplestiltskin. She very much enjoys rethinking these classic tales from an original point of view, always looking for the real psychological underpinning of the story. Suzanne is currently doing revisions on her fourth book in the line, which will be coming in 2009.

Suzanne's other recent novels are include The Bar Code Tattoo (2004) and its sequel, The Bar Code Rebellion (2006). The Bar Code Tattoo was selected by the American Library Assoc. (ALA) as a 2005 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and was a 2007 Nevada Library nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction. It is currently translated into German and was nominated for the 2007 Jugenliteraturpreis for Young People's Literature.

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

this one was ok. I found a lot of discrepancies in the book. The one thing I got a kick of was the Dr's name:Dr. Ardeth Bey, who if anyone is an Ancient Egypt junkie like myself and the Mummy movies fan like myself, Ardeth Bey was the Majai who helped Brendan Fraser's character Rick defeat Imhotep.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taylor has always felt a little like she belonged in ancient Egypt more than she does in the modern day. But when she helps stop a robbery at a branch of The Haunted Museum, the scarab she picks up doesn't seem to want to let her go. Mysterious people follow her from the U.S. all the way to Egypt. Scarabs appear from nowhere. Her dreams (or are they visions?) take her far into the past and show her secrets that have long been buried in desert sands. None of it makes sense, and no one seems to believe that anything out of the ordinary is happening.

If Taylor can't untangle the present from the past and break the ancient curse she'd unleashed, she knows that she might be entombed in Egypt forever

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Taylor visits an exhibition of Nefertiti's lost jewels at the Haunted Museum, she rescues a scarab from a robbery. After that, strange things start to happen to her, and suddenly the scarab starts to follow her too.

Unfortunately, this is the last book in the Haunted Museum series. I really enjoyed this series and this book in particular was perfect. In parts it reminded me of The Mummy and it wasn't as scary as some of the other books in the series, but the mystery and suspense was enough to keep me hooked the whole book.

[Talon Shuffler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3 stars, a good read and interesting take on Egyptian mythology.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Lanelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather simplistic. There is a inconsistency towards the end. The main character's cell phone gets completely wear and then she's using it the next day.

[Angelina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read all three of these Haunted Museum books, and this one lacked the scary factor the others did.