In addition to the Little Critter series, Mayer also illustrated the Critters of the Night series, which was written by Erica Farber but featured characters based on Mayer's earlier series. Essentially, it took his semi-animal-but-not-quite-sure-what-kind creations from the Little Critter series and cast them in monster roles such as vampires, mummies, and werewolves. A streak of black humor runs through me, and I am drawn to odd juxtapositions; for instance, cute little characters that are in traditionally scary roles. In other words, these books cutesify (yes, I did just make that word up) the things that go bump in the night. I love it.

This story features the little boy critter, Axel, and Groad, who is the butler, the mad scientist? I really don't know. Regardless, they are off to Egypt to help their cousin, Mummy Moose. After daring airplane crashes, angry sheiks, and Egyptian tombs, they find Mummy Moose, only to discover that his danger is not what they expected. A simple adventure that will appeal to kids, and adults who are still kids on the inside, and the characters and the Egypt setting only add to the allure. Another bonus is that the text is simple and the illustrations are funny and colorful, so these books are a good match for toddlers like my daughter. Although I really bought this one for myself, my girls and I can enjoy it together. ( )