Dear possible reader of this book, I wasn't sure I'd be able to write a book ever again after Canine Quarterly reviewed my series, Tales from the House of Bunnicula. They said I would never win the Newbony Award. Was I depressed! And I didn't even know what a Newbony was! Luckily Delilah's read a lot of Newbony books, so she helped me write this one. It's about a poor (but very cute) orphan dachshund puppy named Howie Monroe, who lives on the prairie and yearns for a chicken bone. (I know. Trust me.) Things really get exciting when Howie and his best friend, the smart and well-read Delilah, find a time machine and travel back to ancient Egypt where they uncover...the mystery of the Pharaoh's tomb!!! Uncle Harold (who wrote a bunch of books about our friend Bunnicula) says he thinks Delilah and I learned a lot about working together. I'm just glad we're still speaking to each other, and I hope you like the story. Your friend, Howie James Howe is the author of more than ninety books for young readers. Bunnicula , coauthored by his late wife Deborah and published in 1979, is considered a modern classic of children’s literature. The author has written six highly popular sequels, along with the spinoff series Tales from the House of Bunnicula and Bunnicula and Friends. Among his other books are picture books such as Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores and beginning reader series that include the Pinky and Rex and Houndsley and Catina books. He has also written for older readers. The Misfits , published in 2001, inspired the nationwide antibullying initiative No Name-Calling Week, as well as three sequels, Totally Joe , Addie on the Inside , and Also Known as Elvis. A common theme in James Howe’s books from preschool through teens is the acceptance of difference and being true to oneself. Visit him online at JamesHowe.com. Screaming Mummies of the Pharoah's Tomb II By James Howe Atheneum Copyright ©2003 James Howe All right reserved. ISBN: 0689839537 Howie's Writing Journal I'm never going to write again!!!!!!!!!!!! Uncle Harold, who is this really smart dog I live with who's written all these books about our rabbit, Bunnicula, who our cat, Chester (who is also really smart) says is a vampire because... I forgot what I was trying to say. Proof! I can't write! I'm never going to write again!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, now I remember. Uncle Harold (who isn't really my uncle, I just call him that) says that he's gotten lots of bad reviews and that I shouldn't let one bad review get to me. Ha! Easy for him to say. He's been writing for a katrillion years and his books have sold a katrillion copies, even if he has gotten some stinko reviews. But I've written only three books. I've just gotten started. Nobody will want to read my books after what Canine Quarterly -- my former favorite magazine in the whole world!! -- had to say: Howie Monroe writes with energy and a sense of humor, but he is a literary lightweight. Pack his books to while away the time when you're going for an extended stay at the kennel, but don't be looking for him to win the Newbony Award any time soon. A literary lightweight!!!!!!!!!!!! Would a literary lightweight know how to use as many adjectives as I do? Or exclamation points!!!? Oh, what's the use? If I'm never going to win the Newbony Award, why should I even bother to write? I wonder what the Newbony Award is. Howie's Writing Journal My friend Delilah, who is this beautiful and REALLY SMART dog who lives down the street and happens to be one of my best friends in the whole world and is maybe even my girlfriend, although I've never told her that, not in so many words, anyway, well, Delilah said the Newbony Award is about the biggest award a book can be given. She said her owner, Amber Faye Gorbish, reads Newbony books all the time. I told her Pete, who is Amber's boyfriend and one of the two boys who lives in the house with me (Toby is the other one), reads stuff like the FleshCrawler books by M. T. Graves. Those books are soooooo cool. My favorite is #28: Screaming Mummies of the Pharaoh's Tomb. It's about these twins who find a time-travel machine in their grandfather's attic and... Anyway, Delilah said that books with titles like Screaming Mummies of the Pharaoh's Tomb never win the Newbony Award. I asked her what does win. She thought about it for a long time. "Books that are sad," she said finally. "And take place a long time ago." "Screaming Mummies of the Pharaoh's Tomb takes place a long time ago," I pointed out. "And it's sad. Especially the part where the screaming mummies crumble into about a katrillion pounds of dust." Delilah gave me a look. If it was a look in a Newbony book, it would have been described as "withering." "It also helps if the characters are poor and somebody dies," she went on. "Or if the main character, usually a child and preferably an orphan, goes on a long journey. Alone. Oh, and it should be a book girls will like." A