THE 5,000-YEAR-OLD PUZZLE

For armchair archaeologists, young and old, this imaginary trip to Egypt in 1924 will be golden delight. Narrating as a first-hand account through diary entries and postcards sent to his friend back home, young Will Hunt and his family join an expedition to a site called Giza 7000X to search for a secret tomb. The family, as Will’s name and pun suggests, is fictitious, while all of the information is based on actual records from a Harvard University/Boston Museum of Fine Arts expedition. Effectively designed double-page spreads utilize acrylics, watercolors, and inventive collages that incorporate stamps, postcards, and archival documents, to create a you-are-there feeling. The story puzzle approach adds an interactive element and sidebars insert details and explanations that further engage the reader. The team does uncover a tomb, one older than King Tut’s. Whose tomb is it? Why are things out of place? Is there really a curse? The last two pages provide facts about Giza 7000X and a theory about the missing queen. This clever presentation of nonfiction captures the spirit of adventure and fascination with Egypt and Pyramids with suspense, humor, and zeal. Move over Ms. Frizzle, this guarantees that readers will not be “tombed to eternal boredom.” (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-11)