The Mummy Snatcher of Memphis: A Kit Salter Adventure by Natasha Narayan
| The Mummy Snatcher of Memphis: A Kit Salter Adventure by Natasha Narayan | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: A rip-roaring action-adventure story that roams from Oxford and London's dangerous East End all the way to the pyramids in Egypt. The feisty heroine will appeal to adventurous girls, and everyone will love the action and danger that she and her friends face. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 272 | Date: March 2009 |
| Publisher: Quercus Publishing plc | |
| ISBN: 978-1847246004 | |
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Kit Salter is a teenage girl growing up in Victorian England. Her mother died when she was just a child, so she takes care of her father and runs the household. Kit is not, however, a model young lady and is actually rather outspoken and headstrong. Her father is a scatty professor, a curator at an Oxford museum and she plays upon his absentmindedness to aid her in her mischief and allow this fantasy adventure to begin.
She has three friends, Rachel, Isaac and Waldo, who take daily lessons with Kit's governess, Madame Minchin. Kit is frustrated with studying etiquette whilst the boys get to study Latin. Her Aunt Hilda (a famous explorer) has just returned from an expedition to Egypt and she has brought back a mummy to the museum. Kit, anxious to see the mummy, bunks off her studies and drags her friends along with her. They find the mummy's case but are surprised to find noises coming from inside it... the rattles and moans reveal a stowaway, a young Egyptian boy who is desperate to find the mummy's scarab and return it to his village in order to lift an ancient curse. Kit and her friends decide to help the stowaway, but find that the mummy has been stolen. So they embark on an exciting adventure to discover its whereabouts...
I raced through this book which was both exciting and funny. Kit is an engaging heroine, and I found myself both stirred up by her enthusiasm as well as annoyed by her rash pig-headedness! There's a large cast of colourful characters, including a crazy aunt and her rival, the vain French explorer Champlon, there's a gaggle of motley East End mobsters led by Velvet Nell and, of course, Kit herself and her friends. They become a little like the Famous Five, acting independently of the adults around them. Kit is a real tomboy, impulsively diving into situations and usually making them much worse. Waldo is a young American boy whom Kit has a bit of a crush on (not that she'd ever admit it!). Isaac is a quiet boy who has fantastic ideas for inventions and Rachel, his sister, is the quiet, sensible girl who tries to ground them all in reality. For this adventure they are joined by Ahmed, the stowaway, who gets them caught up in the escapade in the first place.
The book twists and turns as Kit and her friends follow clues and try to find the mummy. There's enough 'history' in the book to satisfy those interested, but not so much that it would make it dull for those who aren't. It's easy to imagine the scenes through the book as they are described well, especially the atmosphere when they arrive in Egypt and their subsequent trek through the desert. There are a couple of action scenes that I found a little disturbing for a children's book, but kids are generally a lot more resilient (and gore-loving!) than we think, so it should be fine as long as it's not being read by a particularly sensitive younger child.
I would have loved reading this as a child, and even as a grown up I'm looking forward to Kit Salter's next fantastic adventure.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
If this book appeals then we think that you'll also like Slave Girl by Jackie French.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Mummy Snatcher of Memphis: A Kit Salter Adventure by Natasha Narayan at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Mummy Snatcher of Memphis: A Kit Salter Adventure by Natasha Narayan at Amazon.com.
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