THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY: UNCOVERING TUTANKHAMUN'S TOMB

 If you're like me and think that middle grade books are some of the best books available and if you like reading about history and ancient mysteries--then Candace Fleming's newest book, THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY (Scholastic, 2021) is for you--or for a young reader in your life.

What reader can resist this opening that is printed in white on a black page:

"It was said...the boy king's tomb was cursed."

Those ominous words are followed by six curses associated with opening the tomb of Tutankhamun. 

What kind of book is this?

Quickly, Candace Fleming shows you exactly what this well-researched book is: an exploration of how ancient Egyptians buried their kings and the ten years that it took to discover and clear out the tomb. From embalming procedures to the innumerable possessions that the deceased would need in the after life, to Carter's meticulous documentation, Fleming included details about it all. 

But don't get me wrong. This is not my boring junior high textbook with lists of dates and facts to be memorized for a test. The Curse of the Mummy reads like a mystery as the reader is lured into wanting to know, "Who were the tomb robbers who carried off golden jewelry, jars of perfume, figurines, mummies, and other priceless treasures?" "Did they ever get caught?" "Were they scared of the mummy's curse?" 

Tutankhamun's tomb (lower left) in the Valley of the Kings,
near Luxor (ancient Thebes), Egypt.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Valley-of-the-Kings

In 1906, 50 years after the Antiquities Service was created, an Englishman named Lord Carnarvon invested huge amounts of money to excavate portions of the Valley of the Kings. The evening after his first "real find"--a mummified cat--Carnarvon witnessed domestic chaos as his staff were convinced that the spirit of the dead cat had come back to haunt him. In the second "It was said..." section the reader may get goosebumps wondering along with Carnarvon, "If a cat could do this, imagine what the spirit of an angry pharaoh might do."

                        

                                    Egyptian mummies of animals in the British Museum. 

Throughout the book, details about the excavation are interspersed with black pages (all written in white ink) that begin with "It was said..."  These pages tell stories about the curses (and rumors of curses) that were popular during the time period of the preceding chapters.

"Why did people get sick and die soon after they were near the pyramids?" "Why were some people tormented with Egyptian visions after looking inside the tomb's lid?"

Questions like these propel the reader through the book. 

Using wonderfully descriptive language, Fleming allows readers to hear conversations between Carnarvon and Howard Carter, the now-famous archeologist who found King Tutankhamun's tomb and catalogued every item in it.  We can smell the scent of oils and perfumes that still lingered in the air inside the tomb and feel the incredible amazement when Carter and his team looked upon treasures that had been buried for over 3,000 years. 

 

Photograph taken in 1922 of 
Carter looking at the sarcophagus. 

                                         King Tut's sarcophagus

I follow several writing blogs and heard about The Curse of the Mummy on the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors. After reading about Candace's visit to King Tutankhamun's tomb and the description of the book, I was hooked! 

In addition to her comprehensive chronology of the excavation itself and the cultural context of archeological digs in Egypt, I was interested in Fleming's opinions about how these ancient artifacts were plundered. First, by grave robbers; second by European treasure hunters who carted away invaluable objects as small as jewelry and as large as monuments--to be sold or placed in museums. And then thirdly, by Carter himself. 

This is her description of November 11, 1925 when Carter and his team unwrapped the mummy:

No one present seemed to care that removing the mummy's bandages meant permanently destroying it. No one seemed concerned that ruling through the boy king's human remains was indecent or a sacrilege. Even Carter, who took great care in conserving the tomb's objects, saw no reason why the mummy shouldn't be unwrapped. (p. 198) 

 

So, what about the curses? Was Carter cursed as a result of opening the tomb and the way in which he handled King Tutankhamun's remains?

Of course, they weren't true. But, the superstition and myths surrounding finding the child-king make for a good story. And, there's a lot of lessons to be learned in this fast-paced book. 

                                        ****     

No giveaway this time; I'm saving this book for my granddaughter who at six-years-old has begun learning about ancient Egypt!

Congratulations to Danielle Hammelef who added another book to her picture book collection by winning LET'S POP, POP POPCORN from last week's blog. 

The Way to Stay in Destiny- A Review and an Audio CD Giveaway!

The minute sixth-grader Theo Thomas gets off the bus and arrives in Destiny, Florida with his Uncle Raymond, I’m right there with him. Award winning author AugustaScattergood, uses great details to pull readers into the character and setting: Theo grabs his bags, baseball mitt and a tattered book, Everything You Want to Know About Baseball; the heat hits him like a slap in the face; diesel fumes whoosh around him; he encounters slithery gray stuff hanging from the trees; and no "old men in shorts and flip-flops" meet him and his uncle at the Marathon gas station. 

Theo’s shakes his head at the banner stretching across the street, Destiny, Florida: The Town Time Forgot and wonders, “Man, what am I doing here?”

Writers are encouraged to start a story at the moment in the character’s life when things change. True to that advice, Augusta starts this book with the fact that Theo’s life has taken a turn for the worse. As the story moves forward and Theo becomes acquainted with his new hometown, the reader finds out that he lived with his maternal grandparents on their Kentucky farm since his parents died in an accident when he was four. His Vietnam vet uncle had to come back from his happy life in Alaska to sell the farm, put his parents in a nursing home, and take care of him. Raymond resents it all.

At the same time that his uncle lays down the law about how life is going to be now that he's in charge, Theo is busy discovering that downstairs from his room in Miss Sister Grandersole's Rooming House and Dance Academy, there is a beautiful piano. He also makes the acquaintance of Anabel Johnson, who would rather be playing baseball than taking tap dance lessons. 

The piano is like a magnet to Theo and despite his uncle's displeasure, he can't keep his hands off of it. Miss Sister recognizes Theo's special talent to play music by ear, but all his uncle can say is, "No one but a fool wastes his time playing a piano."

Although this is Theo’s story of discovering a way to make a life without his grandparents in a new city, it is equally about Raymond coming to grips with his Vietnam nightmares and sorrows. I loved how slowly his backstory is revealed and how Theo discovers his uncle's hurts as an unappreciated Vietnam veteran. Their reconciliation is beautiful and authentic without being sappy or maudlin. 

I appreciated the way in which Augusta wove together the strands of the other character's stories. Besides Uncle Raymond's story, other sub-plots include Anabel's passion for baseball and her determination to uncover part of Destiny's history; and Miss Sister’s dancing dreams, which turned out different than she expected.

I also loved that Theo was as passionate about playing the piano as he was about practicing baseball. These two strands create a very unique character. 

There are too many great lines from this book for me to quote, but here are a few: 

• "Music Makes Memories" the sign in Sister's practice room. The sign provides great subtext for the novel.
• When Theo plays the piano he describes it as "music jumping out of his fingers."
• Uncle Raymond: "I don't know nothing about raising kids. Especially ones that remind me of the bad times."
• Theo: "I'll start acting like family when you do."
• Uncle Raymond: "I hate everything that happened. I hate you having no one but me."

**********

Why did Augusta Scattergood name the town Destiny? Why does Uncle Raymond want to leave Destiny? How does Theo figure out a way for them to stay and a way for them to be a family. You’ll have to read (or listen to) the book to find out.

Here Augusta reads a snippet of The Way to Stay in Destiny (Scholastic, 2015):


I am giving away a copy of the Audio CD expertly narrated by Michael Crouch. If you would like to win, please leave me a comment (with your email address if you are new to my blog) by 6 PM August 20. If you become a new follower of my blog, or share this post on Facebook or Twitter, I'll give you additional chances to win; just let me know in your comment what you did.

This review originally was published on LitChat on July 28, 2015

Yankee Girl and a Giveaway

My apologies if you receive this blog post twice. I am reposting it since it didn't seem to get sent out  the first time and I wanted you to have a chance to win this fantastic book.

Two girls. One white, one black. The South and civil rights. Given my own work-in-progress, Half-Truths, how could I not read Yankee Girl?

Drawing upon her own childhood experiences, the author, Mary Ann Rodman, writes in her author's note: "Like Alice (the protagonist), I was the daughter of an FBI agent. In the summer of 1964, my family moved from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi. My father was one of 150 special agents ordered to Mississippi by President Lyndon Johnson." These agents were assigned after three young civil rights workers who were helping African Americans register to vote, disappeared.

As the title suggests, Yankee Girl is 6th-grade Alice Ann Moxley's story. Her "new normal" opens with the moving truck unloading her bike in front of her new home. Fresh from Chicago, she encounters the Southern drawl, pimento cheese, and whites who call colored peoplenigras. Her parents are sympathetic to civil rights and Alice is torn between her concern for Valerie, the lone African American girl who integrates her school, and wanting to make friends with the kids in her class who ostracize and mock Valerie. 

Alice's internal struggles make up a good part of the novel as the reader sees Alice's awakening to what Valerie experiences. After Alice doesn't stop her classmates from sending Valerie mean Valentines, Valerie stays home from school. When she calls Alice ostensibly to get their math homework, Valerie shares some of her anxiety about her father's upcoming civil rights event with Dr. Martin Luther King. After Valerie shares some of her painful childhood experiences, Alice dreams thatEmmett Till challenges her to stand up for her friend. 

After Valerie's father dies, she moves out of town and Alice regrets never telling her that she was sorry for not befriending her. But in the final image, Alice moves on to junior high where she meets Valerie's cousin. Despite the whispers of "Nigger lover, nigger lover" all around her, Alice brings the new girl to her cafeteria table, where two of her friends are waiting.

Mary Ann Rodman did such a wonderful job of integrating historical fact with fiction, that I tried googling Valerie's father, Reverend Claymore Taylor. When I couldn't find anything about him, I checked with Mary Ann. She wrote:

"Reverend Taylor is a combination of Medgar Evers and a man named Wharless Jackson, who was my dad's last unsolved case (and never will be solved since all the informants and witnesses are dead or deep into hiding so they will never be found.) Medgar Evers was killed in front of his three children in the driveway of his home (he was the Ms. state president of the NAACP). Jackson was a civil rights activist who worked at the Goodyear Tire plant in Natchez, Ms. Mr. Jackson was promoted to a supervisor's position, the first for a black man in that plant. That night when he got in his truck to go home, he discovered that 'someone' (most likely the KKK) had wired his ignition with dynamite. There was nothing left of him."

At the end of the author's note Mary Ann writes: "My mother once said, 'You know, someday you'll be glad you lived in this time and this place. You are seeing history in the making. You can tell your children and grandchildren about it.'

She was right."

Mary Ann Rodman at 10-years-old

**************

Ms. Rodman is giving away an autographed copy of Yankee Girl. Leave a comment and I'll enter your name in the drawing. I'll pick a winner on Monday, November 4. Please leave your email address if I don't have it.

Congratulations to Lisa Fowler who won last week's giveaway, Hill Hawk Hattie.

Yankee Girl and a Giveaway!

Two girls. One white, one black. The South and civil rights. Given my own work-in-progress, Half-Truths, how could I not read Yankee Girl?

Drawing upon her own childhood experiences, the author, Mary Ann Rodman, writes in her author's note: "Like Alice (the protagonist), I was the daughter of an FBI agent. In the summer of 1964, my family moved from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi. My father was one of 150 special agents ordered to Mississippi by President Lyndon Johnson." These agents were assigned after three young civil rights workers who were helping African Americans register to vote, disappeared.

As the title suggests, Yankee Girl is 6th-grade Alice Ann Moxley's story. Her "new normal" opens with the moving truck unloading her bike in front of her new home. Fresh from Chicago, she encounters the Southern drawl, pimento cheese, and whites who call colored people nigras. Her parents are sympathetic to civil rights and Alice is torn between her concern for Valerie, the lone African American girl who integrates her school, and wanting to make friends with the kids in her class who ostracize and mock Valerie. 

Alice's internal struggles make up a good part of the novel as the reader sees Alice's awakening to what Valerie experiences. After Alice doesn't stop her classmates from sending Valerie mean Valentines, Valerie stays home from school. When she calls Alice ostensibly to get their math homework, Valerie shares some of her anxiety about her father's upcoming civil rights event with Dr. Martin Luther King. After Valerie shares some of her painful childhood experiences, Alice dreams that Emmett Till challenges her to stand up for her friend. 

After Valerie's father dies, she moves out of town and Alice regrets never telling her that she was sorry for not befriending her. But in the final image, Alice moves on to junior high where she meets Valerie's cousin. Despite the whispers of "Nigger lover, nigger lover" all around her, Alice brings the new girl to her cafeteria table, where two of her friends are waiting.

Mary Ann Rodman did such a wonderful job of integrating historical fact with fiction, that I tried googling Valerie's father, Reverend Claymore Taylor. When I couldn't find anything about him, I checked with Mary Ann. She wrote:

"Reverend Taylor is a combination of Medgar Evers and a man named Wharless Jackson, who was my dad's last unsolved case (and never will be solved since all the informants and witnesses are dead or deep into hiding so they will never be found.) Medgar Evers was killed in front of his three children in the driveway of his home (he was the Ms. state president of the NAACP). Jackson was a civil rights activist who worked at the Goodyear Tire plant in Natchez, Ms. Mr. Jackson was promoted to a supervisor's position, the first for a black man in that plant. That night when he got in his truck to go home, he discovered that 'someone' (most likely the KKK) had wired his ignition with dynamite. There was nothing left of him."

At the end of the author's note Mary Ann writes: "My mother once said, 'You know, someday you'll be glad you lived in this time and this place. You are seeing history in the making. You can tell your children and grandchildren about it.'

She was right."

Mary Ann Rodman at 10-years-old

**************

Ms. Rodman is giving away an autographed copy of Yankee Girl. Leave a comment and I'll enter your name in the drawing. I'll pick a winner on Friday, November 1. Please leave your email address if I don't have it.

Congratulations to Lisa Fowler who won last week's giveaway, Hill Hawk Hattie.

The Wright 3

Secret codes. Invisible men. Pentominoes. Fibonacci numbers. Hidden Pictures. Geometry. Red herrings. Murder. The Wright 3, a middle grade mystery for boys and girls by Blue Balliett, has all of these PLUS a plot that captures the reader’s attention and refuses to let go.

When 6^th-graders Tommy, Calder, and Petra hear that the Robie House, a 1910 Frank Lloyd Wright house in their Chicago neighborhood, is to be cut into sections and donated to four museums, they band together to try and rescue this unique architectural jewel from destruction.

Following Chasing Vermeer, which featured Petra and Calder, this second book begins with Tommy moving back to Chicago with hopes of rekindling his friendship with Calder. But since Petra and Calder are a team, the first obstacle the three overcome is figuring out if and how they can be a threesome. Using multiple points-of-view, Balliett shows how the Wright 3 (as they name themselves) conquer their initial misunderstandings, pool their talents, solve several mysteries, and eventually save the Robie House.

Balliett does an incredible job of integrating math concepts into this fun, fast-paced book. In addition, each chapter includes intriguing illustrations by Brett Helquist adding another dimension to the story. Each illustration is a mystery: can the reader find the hidden pictures and patterns in each one?  As I read it I was faced with a dilemma—should I stay and try to figure out the picture or keep on reading?

The Wright 3 would make a great classroom read as students would vie with one another to figure out the subtle nuances hidden in the black and white drawings. If so, they should listen to the advice of the children’s wise neighbor, “Coincidence reminds me of the repetitions in the Robie House. The more you look, the more you see.” (p. 310)