Part of what makes me love this book--and the others in Peters' Amelia Peabody series--is that it's so delightfully uncategorizable. It's a mystery set in historical Egypt, but the time period is not, as one might expect, in the BC years; rather, the novel is set in the late 1800s. The main characters are a family of British Egyptologists (parents Radcliffe Emerson and Amelia Peabody Emerson and young son Ramses)--the parents of said family being based very loosely on historical figures (in Radcliffe's case, William Flinders Petrie and, I believe, in Amelia's case, Amelia Edwards).

Peters brings all kinds of historical characters into this series, intermingling them with her own characters and using them in her plots without shame. Into the series she brings names of real archaeologists, like William Petrie and Howard Carter. Seeing as how he's based on the guy, one might think that Radcliffe Emerson would, in the books, get along well with Petrie; in fact, Peters has made her character a rival with Petrie. The results are hilarious, with Peters shamelessly playing with real historical events, inserting her characters into those events, and creating her own version of real Egyptological events. She weaves tons and tons Egyptological facts in with her plots, and readers lap them up and ask for more, not even realising how much they must be learning about Egypt--not just ancient Egypt, but the political events and standing of Egypt in the last 1800s, and into the 20th century, including the role Egypt played in WWI.

This particular book in the series (book #3, in fact, in a series of 14) is a mystery set in the desert. The Emersons are excavating at Mazghunah, near Dahshoor (for those of you who know anything about Egypt!). Of course, they soon get tangled up in a wicked web of theft, murder, and scandal. Peters still manages to keep her plot and writing light and deft, though, as she weaves together history and fiction, and her writing and characters are side-splittingly funny. Dialogue is one of Peters' strong points, as evidenced by young Ramses' monologues and his parents' responses, and the fact that the adult Emersons claim to prefer cryptic speech, yet ramble as much as their son, when allowed.

Peters has written a hilarious and entertaining novel, a romp through history and Egypt, the writing deft and light, the plot rich, the characters unique and lively while still being hilarious paradies of steriotypical, stock characters.

My book review book this month is My Name is Amelia.This book is about a girl named Lisa who falls overboard boat in the middle of the night.At about dawn she finds a raft made of logs from a tree.Little did she know the logs were growen on an island in the middle of the ocean.After about two or three days she lands on an island in the middle of the ocean. This island you can only see if you're thouching something from that island.When Lisa found out what professor Fremont the owner of the of the island had done she wanted to get off the island.What she finds there I want you to find out by yourself.On a scale one to five I would give this book a five star rating.I like this book because its exciting and adventours at the same time.I recomend this book to people eight and up.The author of this book is Donald J.Solom.This book was published in the year 1994.The moral of this story is never give up.This is one of the greatest books I've ever read!!!

everyone should buy this book - everyone

This book is one of the most helpful architecture and furniture books I have found. The met has put together a wide variety of periods and locations to let us look into the rooms of times past. The pictures are stunning and the descriptions are very informative.

Amelia Edwards' The Phantom Coach (1-899562-82-6) is edited by Richard Dalby and gathers her best Victorian-era ghost stories under one cover. This satisfying collection proves the ghost story can have many themes and settings and still prove refreshingly different from tale to tale. This is the first to gather all her supernatural works under one cover.

This book provides practical and useful lessons as well as important information about teaching at the middle school level.

In this book Amelia and John describe loads of different musical activities and games that are easy to use and fun for all involved. The games are aimed at children, but it's possible to adapt them to suit the needs of different groups. There is a clear guide to useful musical resources, but many of the activities do not require lots of musical instruments.

The great thing about the activities described is that as well as encouraging musical creativity, Amelia and John also describe developmental goals associated with the games. These include developing social, communication and motor skills. Don't worry - the book is not a theoretical therapy manual and the activities are presented clearly in an easy-to-follow format that allows you to get straight to the practicalities and purpose of each game. There are also plenty of nice illustrations.

This book could be useful and inspirational to all sorts of people working with children or people with developmental disabilties - nursery teachers, school teachers, occupational therapists, activity group leaders, parents and carers.

As a music therapist working with children with special needs I frequently refer to the book for ideas - so far all the activities I've tried have worked well in practice!

This is my favorite book! I would reccommend this to young adults who like the sport of softball or car racing. It`s about a girl named Ginger McGill who is the star pitcher of her high school softball team. But when family trouble starts she begins to start losing it. Also when the dark, mysterious boy, Snake, moves to the neighborhood, she begins to wonder what are her priorities. I love this book!

The action in this love story never stops. The characters are wonderful and the story is soooo very good. Any reader of romance will fall in love with Reilly and certainly want him to return to her. I couldn't put it down.

Our 6th grader loved the clever idea of three youth and one adult traveling back in time to meet Amelia Earhart. The historical data was instructive. Our sons interest was held. Any book that can capture an active, sport-minded youth and turn him into a reader really has something going for it. Way to go RPJ! He now wants to read more such material.