The Curse of the Mummy's Tummy

August 1, 2017
Third-grade spy Dexter Drabner from Mutant Rat Attack! (2017) returns for another wacky adventure.A call on his AI skateboard (Battery-Operated Artificial Reasoning Device) from Big K, the head of their city's chapter of the Super-Secret Spy Kids, summons Dex, Agent SK8, for a mission. But his high-tech (and also stinky) journey to the secret hideout is seen by abrasive new girl Aya (a black girl who provides some diversity to the largely white cast). A burglar has been sniffing around the mummy exhibit, and while on his class field trip, Dex is to try to learn why. The exhibit features the pharaoh Hun-Ga-Re, of the fictional Bur-Pe region of Egypt, famous for--as his name suggests--his appetite. His mummy holds a sandwich, and his sarcophagus a curse: "This hoagie can raise the dead! HANDS OFF!" After Dex catches Aya going for the mummy's sandwich, robot ninjas commanded by the real villain appear and the fight wakes Hun-Ga-Re. Using nail polish, Aya transforms into the Pink Lynx, and the slapstick conflict escalates in a series of comic-strip panels with the action described play by play as if it were a football game. The silliness turns mean when, at the climax, Hun-Ga-Re spots fellow fat person/school bully Millicent wrapped in toilet paper, falls in love, and raises the dead against the villains to protect her. While undeniably goofy and action-packed, this probably won't gain fans among Egyptians or overweight people. (glossary) (Adventure. 7-12)

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