ALA Booklist (Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 CST 2004)

Bound in gold and embellished with ruby-red jewels, this follow-up to Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology (2003)--which, like Dragonology, credits a fictional character as its author, leaving those responsible for its written content unacknowledged--purports to be the scrapbook of an amateur archaeologist gone missing during the height of 1920s Egyptomania. As in Dragonology, pull-out documents, sundry flaps, and other novelty elements (including a sample of mummy cloth and a game of Egyptian checkers) will have children breathlessly anticipating each page turn. Even so, this seems to lack the cohesive artistic purpose that distinguished its predecessor. The images often appear overly slick, compromising the notion that they have been sketched on the fly by members of the expedition, and a fantastical frame story about the lost tomb of Osiris undermines the informational content, despite an awkward concluding attempt to separate fact from fiction. Dragonology' s broad crossover success probably won't be reincarnated here, but the allure of the subject matter and the luxe packaging is likely to be considerable.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Following up on the winning format of the bestselling Dragonology, Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris by Emily Sands, illus. by Nick Harris, Ian Andrew and Helen Ward, takes readers from Cairo on the 1st of November, 1926, to the Sphinx on the Giza plateau, through the Valley of the Kings where Tutankhamen's tomb lies, and finally to the completion of the mission in January 1927: the tomb of Osiris. A golden cover bearing a Horus hawk with """"three gems"""" opens to the journal entries of Emily Sands, complete with detailed sketches of various tombs, modes of transport, etc., as well as full-color paintings, plus postcards to lift and envelopes to open. Sands's clever quips and fascinating facts will hold the rapt attention of novices to the topic and Egyptian fanatics alike. .

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-This oversized novelty book has a gold cover with red, plastic, "jewel" inlays to add to the drama. Written as an amateur Egyptologist's travel journal from 1926, each spread covers a distinct area of antiquity and is mainly factual in content, except for the author's chatty asides. The type resembles that of an old manual typewriter and the photos, reproductions, and sketches make the journal seem more realistic. There are papyrus pull-outs, pop-up art, minibooks, and fold-out maps and an envelope in the back with period postcards, ticket stubs, etc. Libraries will find the book useful for teaching journal writing, but difficult to keep together.-Carol Wichman, formerly at Northridge Local Schools, Dayton, OH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.