Skip to main content

Motel of the Mysteries

Image
By

Motel of the Mysteries
By David Macaulay
Houghton Mifflin, 1979. Fiction.

In the year 4022, the amateur archaeologist Howard Carson stumbled upon what is apparently a sacred burial tomb from the ancient country of Usa - a once civilized nation that was destroyed, along with the rest of North America, by cataclysmic events that buried all life on the continent. Motel of the Mysteries documents the discoveries made by Carson and his partner, Harriet Burton, in the sealed burial chamber - marked as sacred by the "do not disturb" sign hanging from the door.

When I first read this book in the sixth grade, I thought it was hysterically funny. I found it so funny that I shared it with my entire family several times. The completely false conclusions that Howard Carson reaches about completely ordinary things in our culture - like toothbrushes, or toilet paper, or toilets - make the book even more funny. While some of the "modern" equipment in the book (like giant TV's and telephones) may seem a little like ancient history to kids now, this book is still enjoyable for anyone interested in history, archaeology, or Egyptology - a true "oldie but goodie."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

By
If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.
Post a Comment
Read more

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

By loo
Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more