LOCH NESS MONSTER'S UNBELIEVABLE SCIENCE

Everyone’s favorite undersea cryptid learns a valuable lesson in telling fact from fiction.

The Loch Ness Monster (“Call me Ness”), a chevron-patterned indigo blob, proudly hypes her book about birds: “It’s got drama, excitement, adventure! And most important of all, scientific truths.” Her “expert” credentials? She has written a book (“And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a bird before”). The fanciful stories she tells about puffins’ colorful beaks (the result of sunburn) and boobies’ blue feet (a dyeing mishap) are riveting. Until Ness claims that her book is rooted in science. The puffin’s and the booby’s objections upset her, and Ness sensibly demands their basis, providing an opening for the birds to present some actual facts about their species, like Latin name, habitat, height, and habits. Everyone agrees that though facts are “so fun,” made-up stories are also OK, as long as we know the difference. After penning an error-free tale of flamingos, Ness comically starts writing her “most factual book yet”: her own origin story. The graphic novel format keeps things moving briskly, with touches of humor. The spare cartoon art is accurate enough (though the booby bears a resemblance to a gull character). Offering both a bit of ornithology and helping readers make a solid distinction between science and fiction (though the latter word never appears), this one’s a useful addition to STEM basics.

Will inspire kids to resist disinformation—and perhaps create their own “just-so stories.”