Not so much a research tool as a compelling browsing item, this crowd-pleasing Aussie import features articles, arranged in several alphabetically arranged topics, on famous mummies ancient and modern. It includes techniques of bodily preservation and of its modern study, plus such sidelights as head-shrinking procedures, the ill-fated Franklin Expedition that disappeared into northern Canada in the mid–19th-century, and “Exploding Kings and Queens.” The author relates her tales with “eeewww”-inspiring relish: as Lord Nelson’s body was preserved in a cask of spirits during its final voyage back to England, “ever since, British sailors have called a drink of rum ‘tapping the admiral.’ ” And after murderer William Corder was hanged, “the local hospital got his skeleton, as well as his brain in a bottle, and a leather shop in London got his scalp and one of his ears. Finally, Corder’s skin was tanned like cow-hide and used to bind a book telling the story of his crime.” Prior gathers examples from every continent except Antarctica, and closes with a child-friendly bibliography for readers who must, just must, know more. Though the illustrations are a disappointing scatter of small photos, filler, and artists’ sketches, this is bound to be a popular choice for fans of the icky as well as budding forensic scientists. (index, glossary, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: March 11, 2003
ISBN: 0-375-82287-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Eleanor's family moves from Marietta to Decatur, Georgia, it's popularity panic. Hoping to impress the new crowd, particularly silver-blond, earring-swinging Misty (jealously guarded by possessive Jessica), Eleanor tries her ``Pig Face'' grimace and notes on toilet-paper, antics considered cute and funny in her old school; here, they backfire. She tries to avoid nerdy kids like shy ``egghead'' Charlie, who hangs around her backyard keeping in touch with the ghost of Joseph, a young bugler killed there in a Civil War battle. A secret fantasy of being a pioneer girl also links Eleanor to the past, enabling her to sense Joseph's presence. Still, she's interested only in popularity; she uses the ghost as an excuse for a party for her prospective friends—another plan that goes awry. Meanwhile, Charlie's convinced that contact with Joseph is growing weaker because his bugle is missing from its burial place. Sure enough, when the bugle turns up, firm contact is reestablished. Descriptions of the apparitions comprise some of this first novel's best writing, but the opportunity to develop a good ghost story with a taste of history is frittered away: even readers sympathetic to Eleanor's concerns will lose patience with her obsession and her infantile behavior (she seems more like a fourth-grader than a seventh), and be disappointed when this potentially exciting tale vanishes into thin air. (Fiction 9-11)
Pub Date: April 20, 1993
ISBN: 0-395-64527-1
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Eric Bonner has shot up seven inches in the past year, making life in sixth grade so unbearable that his mother has just yanked him out of one school and plunked him down in another. But his lot hasn't improved: new classmate Tyler Wayne promptly tunes into Eric's gangly vulnerability with the nickname ``Stick Boy.'' While tension between them develops, Eric finds friendship with a foster child, Jeremiah, and gains enough confidence to come to the rescue of a disabled black student. Zeier (The Elderberry Thicket, 1990) captures Eric's towering discomfort with such telling details as the shortness of his pajama sleeves and his picking out a puffy winter jacket to disguise his shape. Eric is capable of brusquely hurting the feelings of one student while bristling at the nearly identical treatment he receives from another; he's clumsy but has moments of poise, hinting at the young man he'll become. But though he's charmingly complicated and boyish, he's been slipped into a fairly ordinary plot with a disappointingly facile ending. Still, Zeier has a knack for depicting the sixth-grade milieu; its goofiness and grandeur are perfectly pitched. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: April 30, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-31835-9
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
