Weekend Reading: The Runaway Mummy
A cute, fun book for people who enjoy spooky stuff
ADDED February 06, 2010
Truth be told, I wouldn't have thought that The Runaway Mummy would be such a hit in my house. I don't know why -- there's certainly nothing wrong with this book. But I didn't expect my boys to react as positively to it as they did.
My kids love it, though. When my four-year-old got to choose a book to bring into his preschool class, this is the one he picked.
The story here focuses on a mama mummy and her little boy (who is also a mummy.)
The book starts off with the boy wanting to get away from his mom. She light-heartedly threatens to transform into various magical creatures in order to catch him and be with him. She threatens to become a giant monster, a humungous gorilla, a sea serpent. Her threats inspire her son to come up with ideas of what he would transform into in order to foil her. And so it goes.
My boys love to watch this imaginary, proposed (and loving) battle of words unfold.
Of course, illustrations demonstrate each of the over-the-top ideas that mom and son come up with. The pictures are cute and charming, and they offer a lot of detail for kids to study.
I do need to say: I don't think that this book would be ideal for most girls. Each page focuses on monsters and similarly gruesome creatures. It has struck a chord with my two boys because they really enjoy "scary" stuff. Also, I've noticed that my beautiful wife —- she's a girl -- doesn't exactly relish this book. Instead, I would say that she goes along with it. Or puts up with it.
I hope I've done a good job describing and recommending this book. I hope I haven't scared you off it or come across as too tepid. The Runaway Mummy is really a cute, fun book. That is, it's cute and fun, if your family enjoys discussing mummies, monsters, sea serpents, and gargantuan apes.
Read to your kids! Do it now!
(Oh, one more thing. I read online that this book is a parody of classic kids' book The Runaway Bunny. I didn't know that -- and I don't think my family has read the original version. I might pick it up at the library to see if my boys enjoy the story sans the spooky stuff.)
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