Just enough info to whet the appetites of budding cryptozoologists.
A collection of creepy cryptids for the courageous connoisseur.
This alphabetic encyclopedia of 50 creatures rates each from one to six stars, where one is a confirmed hoax (Australia’s Drop Bear, a killer koala conceived to scare tourists) and six is a creature once known as a cryptid that is now accepted as real (Peru’s Isothrix barbarabrownae, an elusive tree squirrel). In addition, Halls classifies each by type: aerial, aquatic, humanoid, etc., and offers a comparison to a familiar real-world animal (e.g. the Dingonek from Kenya is “cat-like”). Along with the date and location of the first putative sighting, each entry offers a “factoid,” a summary of eyewitness accounts, and usually three black-and-white pencil illustrations: the adult beast, its skull, and a baby or juvenile version. Factoids are tidbits not included in the eyewitness accounts that usually relate the beast’s history. Here and there throughout the text are single-page “Cryptid Extras,” including a rundown of cryptid appearances in cartoons and video games and the address of the International Museum of Cryptozoology in Portland, Maine. A list of cryptids by type, many more than are in this volume, a further reading list of books and online articles, and a glossary close this fantastical field guide.
Just enough info to whet the appetites of budding cryptozoologists. (Nonfiction. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-210-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A very nicely conceived title that does not entirely cohere. The authors have compiled a lot of information about hummingbirds: their biological orders, families and species; their habits and patterns; their migrations and physical characteristics. They keep at the forefront what makes these tiny, strong, territorial flyers so fascinating and why they are so astonishingly beautiful (it’s not the colors in the feathers, it’s the way the feathers refract light, like a prism.) Each short chapter discusses a physiological or behavioral characteristic and presents a hummingbird legend or story, woven from various versions of tales from Navajo, Aztec, Taino and other indigenous peoples of the Americas. Yorinks has created all the illustrations with fabric collage—cotton, silk, paints, glitter—from small spots to double-page spreads in which the text floats on the images. The text does not always read smoothly, there is some repetition and the rather odd inclusion of a small quilt with the actor Alan Arkin’s image (he’s a hummingbird fan) that adds to the hodgepodge feel. (foreword, glossary, bibliography, hummingbird sanctuaries, art notes, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58089-332-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2011
A surprise baby, the first zoo-born gorilla in the world, put the Columbus, Ohio, zoo on the map. Now well over 50, Colo has entertained zoo-goers, taught researchers, spurred the study and protection of gorillas in the wild and mothered five subsequent generations of gorillas now in zoos around the county. This chronicle of Colo's life includes stories of important events and plentiful details of her daily routine. A busy design surrounds substantial text and includes numerous black-and-white and color photos taken at the zoo. Readers will be drawn in by the events of her birth, including the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation needed to revive the newborn baby found on the concrete cage floor. Raised and clothed like a human baby, she eventually became so strong and strong-willed she was caged like the other gorillas in the zoo and provided with a wild-caught mate. Although she never nursed her own babies, she did nurture grandchildren. Over the years, and with the advice of Dian Fossey, who had studied gorilla behavior in the wild, there were changes in the way gorillas were housed in Ohio and around the country. Colo and others were given a new, more interesting environment and allowed to live in family groups. Sidebars explain trading and breeding policies of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, gorilla mothering and gorilla communication. The book ends with a family tree and photo scrapbook. (endnotes, recommended reading, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9841554-4-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
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