How to Build a Museum: Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture by Tonya Bolden. 60 p. Smithsonian series. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, September, 2016. 9780451476371. (Review from purchased copy.)
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is free to the public, as are all of the Smithsonian museums, only, since its debut in September of 2016, it has become the hottest ticket in town. Seriously, if you are going to DC, don't plan on wandering in as you would all the other museums. You need to reserve a ticket online and there are none available until September. Only those won't be released until July! So, take a tour (of sorts) with this lovely book.
The road to this newest addition to the National Mall was long and arduous - 100 years long, suspended by the Great Depression, challenged by fundraising and finding the right spot for groundbreaking. Author Tonya Bolden chronicles the history succinctly, including the search for artifacts, one of which, an entire train car, that needed to be installed during construction of the museum because it was just too big to get in any other way. The second half of the books features themes and images from the museum's permanent collection.
Photos and maps are well-captioned and plentiful. The book is well-designed with a square trim and creamy backgrounds edged with lattice-work that mimics the lattice facade of the museum. A page with facts and figures, pages of Notes that include urls and an index conclude the volume.
Our eighth graders travel to DC every spring for three days and two nights. It's a packed trip and everyone comes back exhausted but happy. To prepare for the trip, each eighth grader has to research the city and the Mall and the monuments to create a travel binder. This book will make for a great resource for the assignment.
It is truly a first-purchase!
Tombquest Book 1: Book of the Dead by Michael Northrop. 197 p. Scholastic Inc., January 27, 2015. 9780545723459. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)
Mixed-up Files (of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler) eat Tombquest's dust. This new multi-platform series hits the ground running. I can't think of a middle grade novel that begins with the main character dying but there you have it. Alex Sennefer is living on borrowed time of a mysterious illness but his Egyptologist mother, who curates the Ancient Egypt section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will have none of that. She has found the Book of the Dead and intends on using it to save her son. Little does she realize exactly what she will unleash in doing so. She saves Alex when his doctors proclaim there is nothing more to be done. Alex doesn't get to spend too much time celebrating though because his mom disappears and creepy, mysterious things keep happening with the exhibit. Museum security and the police have no clue what they're up against.
It is up to Alex and his best friend Ren, short for Renata, who is a genius and happens to be the daughter of the engineer in charge of well, everything at the museum, it seems, to find his mom. Of course, they need a bit of help from Dr. Todtman, a colleague of Alex's mom that Alex isn't certain he can trust. The two kids have nearly unlimited access to all parts of the museum. And, those parts they aren't allowed in? Let's just say they know their way around a few security codes.
Terrifying jackal-headed villain? Check. Stinking mummies? Check. Stinging swarms of deadly scorpions? Check. A stench-filled trip through the museum's sewer system? Check. Exploration of unused subway stations? Check. Enough booby traps to stymie Indy? You get the idea. Fast-paced, funny, smart. I'm so glad the rest of these books are releasing quickly so I (and my kids) don't have long to wait for the next installment. In the meanwhile, fans can visit the Tombquest website to play games and explore.
Book 2: Amulet Keepers releases on April 28.
Book 3 releases August 25.
Book 4 releases January 5.
Book 5 releases March 29, 2016.
Thanks to Scholastic for this arc.
