School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-In this hi/lo dose of zombie mummies, 10-year-old girls who visit the new Mayan Mummy exhibit at the Metropolitan History Museum are mysteriously disappearing all over town. Fifth-grader Maya Naranjo and her friend Will Perez discover a connection between the museum visits and the unsettling disappearances and devise a plan to investigate. Maya pretends to succumb to the mummy's trance and "sleepwalks" to the museum where she is almost captured by the malevolent ruler of Chichen Itza, who is posing as a security guard. Maya is able to free the mummy's spirit and the missing girls are returned to their families. Prothero's humorous black-and-white illustrations provide comic pauses during tense scenes, a plus for readers who are just delving into horror. Savvy readers will see the holes in the plot and may be frustrated by the unresolved explanation of the mysterious security guard but striving readers will feel triumphant for having conquered a chapter book and a new genre.-H. H. Henderson, Heritage Middle School, Deltona, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.