Written by J. Patrick Lewis, Illustrated by Gerald Kelley
My rating: ★★★★
ISBN: 978-1585368181
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Date of publication: August 1, 2014
Age: Grades 2 - 5
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry
Themes: folklore, mystical creatures, monsters, multicultural legends
From Frankenstein's origin as a scary story told among friends to the lesser known Chinese legend of Xing Tian, this book has descriptions of menacing and mysterious creatures from all over the world. A simple poem about the creature accompanies a greater, in-depth look at their origin and multicultural impressions. All while following the alphabet.
Everything is a win with this book. First of all: J. Patrick Lewis is a former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate and Kelley provides illustrations that are detailed, beautiful, and (with some monsters) positively chilling. Second: the range of creatures examined is excellent: the pop-culture phenoms (zombies and vampires, for example) in the same book as the lesser known (like the Jersey Devil, which I had never heard of and am now educated on). Third: it's part of a series of alphabet/fun facts books (like A is for America and P is for Pirate, which is totally next on my reading list) so if kids like this, they're sure to seek out the others. Here's the publisher's full list.
Basically, I recommend it to everyone. It's great for the classroom, in the library, or at home.
Find it at your library or on Amazon
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