Mummy Cat

The scene is set on the title page, as the sun goes down over a golden desert complete with a sphinx and pyramids. Then, “deep within this maze of stone, / a creature wakes up, all alone.” A dainty cat wrapped in strips of white cloth emerges from a small coffin inside the pyramid, looking to see “if she’s come back, his loving friend.” He prowls the pyramid, looking at the statue of an Egyptian queen, then at paintings on the wall that depict their happy life together. Brown’s gouache, watercolor, and ink pictures offset the eeriness of the subject (mummified cat come to life!) with the bright colors in the paintings and on the artifacts in the tomb, and most of all with the lithe and inquisitive feline. The rhyming couplets continue as Mummy Cat finds the picture depicting the queen’s death by scorpion sting, but soon afterward he is reunited with her. The final pages give background information on Egyptian burial customs and a key to the many hieroglyphic messages that children can go back and find in the pictures. This stands out among the more straightforward nonfiction picture books about ancient Egypt, and primary-grade children will find much to ponder, explore, and discuss. susan dove lempke

A dainty mummified cat emerges from a small coffin. He prowls the pyramid, looking at paintings depicting first his happy life with an Egyptian queen, then her death. Ultimately, cat and queen are reunited. Rhyming couplets and the gouache, watercolor, and ink illustrations' bright colors offset the eeriness of the subject. Information on Egyptian burial customs and a key to the illustrations' hieroglyphic messages are appended.