{"id":24687,"date":"2014-10-24T22:41:57","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T02:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24687"},"modified":"2014-10-24T22:44:50","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T02:44:50","slug":"review-of-the-mystery-of-the-whispering-mummy-by-robert-arthur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24687","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy, by Robert Arthur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"whispering_mummy_large\"<\/a>Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators in<\/p>\n

The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy<\/em><\/p>\n

by Robert Arthur
\nillustrated by Harry Kane<\/p>\n

Random House, New York, 1965. 185 pages.<\/p>\n

In my rereading of childhood favorites, The Three Investigators series, I\u2019m now on Book 3. The Whispering Mummy<\/em> isn\u2019t the greatest of the series. The plot seems quite far-fetched, going well into Scooby-Doo territory, with lots of seemingly supernatural occurrences that the reader is pretty sure are going to end up being someone\u2019s evil plot.<\/p>\n

Once again, there\u2019s another ethnic group that\u2019s treated essentially as a stereotype, this time a Libyan boy and his uncle. Once again, rival Skinny Norris has a small part to play, but actually I like his part in this book.<\/p>\n

Jupiter uses the Ghost-to-Ghost Hookup, asking five friends to ask five friends about something, and thus blanketing the city. Even as a kid, I never believed in the Ghost-to-Ghost Hookup, because it doesn\u2019t take into account that after awhile kids would run out of friends who hadn\u2019t already been called. Kids don\u2019t actually have a large number of social groups, and once most of the kids in their grade at their school are contacted, it doesn\u2019t matter what you ask them to do, they wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver.<\/p>\n

But in this case, Skinny finds out about the question being asked and foils their plans. I didn\u2019t mind that, since even though it\u2019s maybe unrealistic the question would have actually gotten to Skinny, at least it shows that Jupiter\u2019s \u201cbrilliant\u201d plan doesn\u2019t always work smoothly.<\/p>\n

And overall? The book is still lots of fun. Three boys solving a mystery that baffles adults, including dangerous situations and mysterious phenomena and cool equipment (walkie-talkies!). Gleeps! If the plot wasn\u2019t terribly believable, at least it was lots of fun.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/whispering_mummy.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book gotten by interlibrary loan via Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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