ALA Booklist (Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

Another title from Markle's long-running Outside and Inside series, this bright photo-essay accents the inside of mummies. Exciting new technology has made it possible to tell how ancient people lived and died. Vivid photographs, sometimes eye-popping in their clarity (CT images), sometimes gross (mummified intestines and intestinal worms), combine with a highly readable text to answer questions about particular bodies and humanity in general. There's a bit of an organizational problem. Dividing the book into chapters would have helped, as the text moves through various diagnostic techniques and different mummies, some from Egypt, others--naturally preserved. One of the most interesting sections concerns the discoveries that can be made from examining DNA. Back matter includes a glossary and a project--make your own mummy. There are acknowledgments to many scientists and health and academic centers, but no source notes.

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2006)

In this fine addition to the series, Markle effectively supports scientific thinking by applying children's curiosity about mummies to their own lives. Explanations then turn to the remarkable information gathered from x-ray and other medical technologies. A highlight is the interactivity between Markle's conversational text and the excellent photos and diagrams. A creative make-your-own-mummy (from an apple) activity accompanies the text. Glos., ind.

Kirkus Reviews

Markle's newest in the series pairs typically dramatic photos to an oddly disjointed text. Darting abruptly from Egypt to Argentina to Europe and back, the author explains how a tiny endoscope, a portable x-ray set up inside a pyramid, and a huge spiral tomography scanner are being used, along with other devices and techniques, to find clues to the lives, deaths, medical histories and environments of mummies worldwide. The identities of her examples sometimes shift confusingly from one paragraph to the next, however, and in at least one case the accompanying photo doesn't match. Furthermore, there's a step or two missing from the closing crafts project, which invites readers to create a "mummy" apple. Though this does provide an enticing glimpse of science in action, and the close-up mummy pictures will elicit the predictable wows, it isn't among the author's best work. (glossary, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 9-11)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Markle explores a global smorgasbord of mummy varieties, both those created by human procedures and those caused by nature. Crisp (if gruesome) color photos accompany the readable, informative text, which discusses not only the mummification process, but also the cutting-edge technologies used by forensic anthropologists and others to study the mummies themselves. From endoscopies to CT scans, through scanning electron microscopes to acid washes and DNA analysis, the author presents an up-to-date look at modern forensics applied to ancient human remains. A new glimpse into a long-ago world.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.