The Mummy's Curse: A time-travelling adventure to discover the secrets of Tutankhamun

By Author / Illustrator

M.A. Bennett

Genre

Historical Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Welbeck Publishing Group

ISBN

9781801300230

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

13-10-2022

Synopsis

Would you risk the future to change the past? Greenwich, London, 1894. Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are time-travelling thieves, stealing artefacts from the future to bring progress forward. And they are about to venture on their most treacherous mission. For The Butterfly Club have their eyes on a shiny new prize. In Egypt's Valley of the Kings a man named Howard Carter will stumble upon an unimaginable treasure - Tutankhamun's mummy: the greatest archaeological discovery of all time.

The three children are given an impossible task: travel to 1922 and uncover the mummy first. But when the time-thieves disturb Tutankhamun's long sleep they wake something else too - a deadly and ancient curse. And now they must face the terrifying consequences of their actions...

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Reviews

MA Bennett is back with the next book in The Butterfly Club series: The Mummy's Curse (The Butterfly Club, book 2). This time-travelling adventure takes readers from London in 1894 forward in time to Egypt in 1922. It is such an enthralling read, you will not be able to put it down.

Once again the time-travelling thieves from the secret organisation, the Butterfly Club, are sent on a new mission. They are sent to the Valley of the Kings in order to ensure that a group of archaeologists are successful in seeking the lost tomb of Tutankhamen and that whatever is discovered makes its way back to the British Museum and accredits the Butterfly Club members.

As a reader you are completely transported to the Valley of the Kings and mesmerised by the attention to historical detail that MA Bennett entwines into this story. Luna, Aiden and Konstantin have been sent to Egypt with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to ensure that the discover of Tutankhamen's tomb takes place. However, they must unearth the location first and then make sure that Howard Carter discovers it. The mission they have been set is to make sure that the mummy is removed and brought back to the British museum. Luna is sceptical about moving the dead and, on discovering the tomb, the children realise that a legendary curse that the local people talk about is actually real and, once it is unleashed, it seems to take on a life of its own.

What I love about this book is how Luna, Aiden and Konstantin have a change of heart about their mission when they meet Abdel, the tea servant. They begin to understand that the missions of the Butterfly Club only benefits the members. The children soon discover that their missions are not always justified as they are weighed down by the casual racism and cruelty with which the local people are treated every day whilst they are there. This change of perspective comes with consequences for the children and they soon find themselves faced with more peril, but this is nothing that the time-thieves cannot overcome.

Primary children are fascinated by the Ancient Egyptian civilization and this story is a gripping journey full of history, deception, culture and a legendary curse. Children will love reading how the characters' beliefs and actions often have consequences. This book would be an excellent resource to use alongside the history curriculum for KS2.

398 pages / Reviewed by Hayley Summerfield, teacher