159. Pirates vs Ancient Egyptians in a Haunted Museum by Nikalas Catlow

Pirates vs Ancient Egyptians in a Haunted Museum by Nikalas Catlow, Tim Wesson & You (US) - (Canada)
Mega Mash-Up, #4

Pages: 96
Ages: 7+
Finished: Jun. 1, 2012
First Published: Apr. 24, 2012
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Genre: humour, art, doodling, drawing
Rating: 3/5


First sentence: "At 30 Plank Street, a band of bloodthirsty Pirates is getting worried."

Publisher's Summary: Who will steal the priceless Golden Howler Monkey from the museum: the bloodthirsty pirates or the crazy Ancient Egyptians? These hilarious books take great subjects for boys and combine them in very short, wacky stories with bold illustrations that are incredibly easy and quick to read. Best of all, there's plenty of space left on each page, together with suggestions for how to fill it, so that kids can add their own drawings. These are chapter books - but they're doodle books as well!                                                       

Acquired: Received a review copy from Candlewick Press.

Reason for Reading: My son enjoys doodle books.

There are a number of different doodle books out there these days.  Most have partly started pictures with suggestions for you on how to finish the drawing.  The Mega Mash-Up series is unique in that it presents a humorous fun adventure story in an easy to read format and incorporates the doodling aspect into the illustration.  This simple silly story is about a group of pirates and a group of ancient Egyptians who both for various reasons have gone poor.  They both come up with the idea of stealing the Golden Howler Monkey statue from a local museum which is about to be demolished so that they may become rich.  Along the way the pages have been half illustrated and it is up to the reader to finish the illustrations.

The drawing assignments include finishing an already started picture, drawing your own pictures and adding texture to certain already drawn items.  There are instructions on what to draw and they range from quite specific to generally broad.  Such as draw a parrot on the ledge to who is peeking out of this window.  There is also a little bit of writing involved with empty signs for you to label and speech balloon with ideas of what sort of thing to fill in, most often sound effects.  A fun book aimed at boys that anyone with an interest in drawing will have a load of fun with.