MUMMY by Kathleen Duey (Big Guy Books, 2005) LIBR 264 #4

GENRE: Fantasy
HONORS: None
REVIEW: Mummy is book number 5 in Robert Gould's Time Soldiers series.  This series uses photography for the illustrations.  The purpose of these books is to reach reluctant boy readers.  In this installment, Bernardo, Mikey, Luke, Caitlyn, and Brian travel through the portal to Egypt.  In the pyramid, Brian finds an amulet, which he hangs onto.  Interestingly enough, when he wishes to go back farther in time the portal opens again and they find themselves in the time when the pyramid was built.  They later discover that the amulet enabled them to open the portal again and helps them understand the Egyptian language.  The Time Soldiers are not the only ones interested in the amulet though.  Some creepy men watch their every move and call the amulet part of the pajoma stone.  It is very apparent they are interested in it.  Later a thief steals the amulet as well.  In the end, they are able to retrieve the amulet and get back home where they await the next opening of the portal.
OPINION: I picked up this book because of my daughter's fascination with the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordon and all things Egyptian.  While there were some details about Egyptian life and the mummy both my daughter and I were disappointed by the book mainly because we found it confusing.  Of course, the reason we found it confusing was that we had not read the other books in the series.  The photographs were very cool but I found the text to skip around a lot.  The book is designed for reluctant boy readers so perhaps Robert Gould and the authors of the series feel that the set-up of the book is similar to a movie or video game format and will appeal to boys.  I would have to read the entire series in order to be a better judge of the effectiveness of this particular book.  It did not give me what I was looking for but it might appeal to its intended audience.
IDEAS: I originally picked it up to supplement the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordon but found it did not provide a lot of information.  Because the book was designed for reluctant boy readers, I would try it with them but would have them start with book number 1 in the series.