How to Make a Mummy Talk

Rating:
Summary: Fun to read and filled with facts
Review: This is a very good book. I like the drawings but, there should be more of them. I know a lot about mummies, but I didn't know the majority of the things that are there. I think everyone should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be a Mummy Dummy!! Read this book!!
Review: To the western mind, mummies have always conjured up mental scenes of dusty, Egyptian tombs where a white-haired archeologist is suddenly set upon by a bandage-wrapped figure that unexpectedly throttles him to death. We'll see young children who have very patiently bound themselves up with layers of toilet paper lumber down the street at Halloween groaning out tricks or treats. The few of us who have actually SEEN a real mummy often find them rather disturbing looking or, in the words of one of my students, "eeeewwwww!!!"

Here to lay many of those untrue myths to their final rest (pun intended) are James M. Deem and True Kelley with their book, "How to Make a Mummy Talk." The book takes some of the most popular myths and untruths of mummies (mummies are all from Egypt, mummies are all found in tombs, etc) and sets the record straight.

While the intentional preservation of deceased humans by mummification is thousands of years old, as in the case of Egyptian Pharos, this is certainly not the only place, time or way that mummies have been made. In fact, the oldest mummies don't even come from Egypt: they hail from South America. Mummies have been found in sand and ice as well.

Deem and Kelly do a fine job of explaining why there are so many myths about mummies and do an excellent job of explaining how mummies GOT that way in the first place. The long and complicated process of Egyptian mummification (which often took 70 days or longer) is well explained here, as are the natural processes at work for what might be called "accidental" mummies: people like the Iceman who froze to death but were preserved by natural forces.

Mummies have been misunderstood throughout history, and often denied the respect they deserve--during the 1800's mummies were bought and ground up as medicine! It's high time that this change. A good way to instigate some of this change is to get this book and read it! Practically every student is at least passingly interested in mummies. Take advantage of this interest, and provide them with the useful, CORRECT information in this book.