You'll love "Mummy Cat"; a book for young cat-lovers and budding Egyptologists alike.
"Deep within this maze of stone, a creature wakes up, all alone."
Meet Mummy Cat.
Writer Marcus Ewert and artist Lisa Brown have created a wonderful children's book about a mummified cat who wakes up for one night every hundred years to search for the tomb of his beloved mistress, Queen Hatshupset. (Yes, I spelt that right.)
As the cat roams the tomb, lavish murals on the walls play out scenes of the cat with his young Egyptian queen, creating a story-within-a-story about the events of centuries past.
Along the way, the story is full of information for young Egyptologists about ancient Egyptian royalty and culture, their reverence of cats, and the practice of mummification. Hidden hieroglyphs deepen the tale and are explained in an informative glossary that appears at the back of the book.
At the heart of the story though, is the relationship between a girl and her cat, and the sadness of a cat missing his owner.
Author, Marcus Ewert, commented in an interview on his inspiration for the book: "... the very first thing I ever wanted to be as a kid was an Egyptologist! So working on Mummy Cat was a way to cherry-pick from that treasured childhood dream."
The informational section at the back of the book tells us that "... the ancient Egyptians had many different beliefs about souls and the afterlife, but generally they believed that a properly mummified person would spend eternity enjoying the things with which he or she had been buried."
When asked, if he was "properly mummified", what would Marcus hope to have in his tomb? "Books, books, books, and books. Books to read and books to write in. Pens. And internet access."
Mummy Cat is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Please note that Nile Magazine is in no way connected with "Mummy Cat" or its creators. We just think it's a wonderful book.