Working Mummies

PreS-Gr 1—This highly entertaining picture book introduces mummy mommies and a variety of monster creatures they encounter at their jobs. Their careers include manicurist, doctor, caterer, realtor, librarian, and beautician. Rhyming couplets scan perfectly and use clever wordplay to get their message across: the doctor prescribes "coffin syrup," the waitress serves up "Scream of Wheat," while "some mummies work the graveyard shift," for example. The tale begins with the manicurist mummy turning off the alarm clock in her sarcophagus and heading off to work, and ends with her returning home to give a hug to her boy and "ghoul." The colorful and expressive illustrations are filled with Frankenstein and his cousins, werewolves, bats, vampires, and a host of ghosts, much more humorous than scary. Kids will eat this one up.—Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI