lkvanvoorhis's Full Review: Pope Mary Osborne - Mummies in the Morning
Mary Pope Osborne has created a wonderful series of adventure books for young children. My 3rd grader enjoys these books, called the Magic Tree House books, very much and is always anxious to start a new one. Most of the books in the Magic Tree House series are for those in grades 2-4. This particular book, called Mummies in the Morning (they all have very creative names) is one we enjoyed very much - not only for the story and adventure, but because it gave us some background and cultural information about the ancient Egyptians.
The characters in the Magic Tree House books are Jack and Annie, brother and sister. In the first book they discover a tree house that has many different types of books in it. By looking in the books and making a wish, Jack and Annie are transported to the time discussed in the books. In Mummies in the Morning, Jack and Annie have discovered a book about ancient Egypt with a bookmark on a page showing a pyramid. Jack had always wanted to see a pyramid, so he wishes they could go there. After a wind seems to pick them up and spin them around, they suddenly stop and look outside the tree house. What do they see? A pyramid, of course.
A funeral procession is leading to the pyramid, and a black cat that suddenly appeared meows to them, bidding them to follow. They find a matching picture in the book and read about the funeral procession, introducing something new to Jack and Annie. As they approach the pyramid, the funeral procession disappears - it is a magical book, you know.
Jack and Annie follow the cat into the pyramid, where they meet a mummy, a ghost-queen named Hutepi. She has been there for a thousand years, needing help to get to the next life. She has been unable to find her Book of the Dead, which had been hidden from tomb robbers. Some writings on the wall of Hutepi's tomb are there to tell her where the Book is, but she cannot see very clearly so cannot read the message. So, Jack and Annie help her by describing the hieroglyphs. Hutepi seems relieved after the writings are 'translated' and invites them to visit her burial chamber - then she disappears!
In the burial chamber, Jack and Annie find everything the hieroglyphs described, including the Book of the Dead. They place it in Hutepi's sarcophagus, next to her mummified body, noticing how the mummy seems to relax once it's there. Jack and Annie then know it's time to leave, but they get lost. After a short time of panic, the black cat appears and leads them out of the pyramid and back to the tree that holds the Magic Tree House, which takes them back home again.
Once home, they find a clue to the mystery that started their whole adventure - they're trying to find out who owns the tree house or put it and the books there for them to use. They find a big letter M on the tree house floor - adding to the other clues about "M", the mysterious owner. Now, if they could just find out who this "M" is...
Mummies in the Morning is the third book in the Magic Tree House series. Osborne has done a wonderful job in creating a story that can go on and on. Jack and Annie go on lots of adventures in this series, and always learn new things - subsequently your child learns, too! Some of the subjects covered are those that your child may never learn otherwise, or would learn later on in school. Jack also takes notes throughout, which are shown in the book in a child-like writing font. I think this is good reinforcement of note-taking - which both my boys are just now learning to do. Osborne's writing is clear and easy and sentences are short so the child can read it by himself, but it's also good for reading aloud. There are a smattering of illustrations throughout which are done in pencil shading, but are quite detailed and perfectly reflect what's going on in the story.
I do have one problem with this book, and the Magic Tree House series as a whole, though. The author likes to use incomplete sentences too much. She'll be describing something, and instead of putting the information into one or two sentences, she'll use a sentence and a fragment after it (or sometimes two). Some authors use this for emphasis, but Obsorne does it too much. We read many different kinds of books, but if we read these and only these for a time, I'm afraid it just may affect the boys' writing.
Overall, I give Mummies in the Morning and the entire Magic Tree House series a good recommendation. I think you and your children will enjoy these adventures and come back for more!
Jack and Annie find themselves whisked away to ancient Egypt, where they come face to face with a dead queen--and her 1,000-year-old mummy!More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Jack and Annie find themselves whisked away to ancient Egypt, where they come face to face with a dead queen--and her 1,000-year-old mummy! This will ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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