Sensitive youngsters beware: with its numerous photos of shriveled and discolored corpses, this slim entry in the National Geographic Readers series is nightmare candy. But for kids with a taste for the macabre, it's a visceral introduction to a topic they'll keep seeing throughout their education. Carney divides her subject into two categories: natural mummies and man-made mummies. The first category is illustrated with mummies found chiefly in bogs, and their shiny black faces (one with a noose still around his neck!) are hauntingly preserved. The simple text provides plenty of shockers: "The bits of his last meal, vegetable soup eaten 2,300 years ago, are still in his stomach." Egyptian mummies dominate the latter half of the book, which includes a cartoon-style "How to Make a Mummy" section. Scattered throughout are boxes that define unfamiliar words. A few jokes running along the top of the book ("Why did the mummy call a doctor? Because he was coffin") try their best but can't really lighten the mood of this dark but intelligent offering.

In challenging but readable text for early independent readers, Carney highlights mummies discovered all over the world. Details such as 2,300-year-old vegetable soup in one mummy's stomach and another's still-soft hair and skin raise the bar on an already high-interest topic. Photographs don't shy away from showing human remains, but they aren't too gory. Vocabulary call-outs and some corny jokes appear throughout. Glos.