I had a hard time getting into Mummies, the latest in the Strange Science series from Owl Books. But that’s not because the book was dull – far from it. My difficulty lay in trying to pry it away from the devoted young Egyptologist in my house.

When I finally managed to crack it open, though, it became obvious why this book is special. Author Sylvia Funston, a former editor-in-chief of Owl magazine, has chosen to broaden her scope beyond just the funereal body preparation of the Egyptians. By Funston’s definition, “to qualify as a mummy, a dead body must at least have its bones, skin and hair, and it has to look like a human being.” This allows her to include such fascinating discoveries as the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old hiker discovered in the Italian/Austrian Alps; the 7,000-year-old Chinchorro mummies of Chile; Juanita, the Inca Ice Maiden; and even some “snow mummies” – Arctic and Everest explorers who’ve been well preserved in a frozen state for years.

The other main asset of this book is its use of photographs (not just illustrations). A particularly impressive one is that of the 2,000-year-old Tollud Man, who was discovered in 1950 in a Danish bog, a suspected murder victim with a rope around his neck, perfectly preserved from the Iron Age.

As befits a subject like this, there are several warnings inside the book next to passages that contain particularly gory details about burial techniques or causes of death. Still, for young readers who aren’t squeamish, Mummies makes an excellent addition to any collection of books on the topic.