THE RUNAWAY MUMMY

“Once there was a little mummy who wanted to run away. ‘If you run away,’ said Mother Mummy, ‘I will get you! For you are my rotten little mummy!’ ” As he did in 2008’s Goodnight Goon, Rex puts a monstrous spin on a Margaret Wise Brown favorite. True to the pattern set forth in the original, mummy and mommy imagine themselves turning into a variety of monsters, from sea serpent to gargoyle to bat and so on. The parody quickly pales, but the author rescues himself with a metatextual turn to social satire: The little mummy says, “I will become a little boy who takes karate and learns to play piano!” as he imagines a little white bunny in a great green room. The horror. (Picture book. 10 & up)