OUTSIDE AND INSIDE MUMMIES

Markle’s newest in the series pairs typically dramatic photos to an oddly disjointed text. Darting abruptly from Egypt to Argentina to Europe and back, the author explains how a tiny endoscope, a portable x-ray set up inside a pyramid, and a huge spiral tomography scanner are being used, along with other devices and techniques, to find clues to the lives, deaths, medical histories and environments of mummies worldwide. The identities of her examples sometimes shift confusingly from one paragraph to the next, however, and in at least one case the accompanying photo doesn’t match. Furthermore, there’s a step or two missing from the closing crafts project, which invites readers to create a “mummy” apple. Though this does provide an enticing glimpse of science in action, and the close-up mummy pictures will elicit the predictable wows, it isn’t among the author’s best work. (glossary, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 9-11)