DO THEY SCARE YOU?

In her brief text, Collard develops the theme that ``no animal exists just to scare, hurt, or disgust us''; still, her two dozen selections (bats, tarantulas, vultures, giant squid, piranhas, etc.) all get their kid appeal from their infamous reputations. The point of view puts an odd spin on some of her facts: ``Sharks don't cry, but they are sensitive'' and ``don't seem to like the taste of people very much''; ``Scorpions are not friendly, but they will not attack you either,'' etc. Some facts are also inconsistent with other sources: the Tasmanian devil is ``really just a small, shy animal'' that ``likes [nothing] better than...basking in the warm sun,'' whereas Kathy Darling (in Tasmanian Devil, 1992) describes the animal as nocturnal and states that ``All Tassie devils are naturally ill-tempered and aggressive.'' The last animal here is a ``Razor-Tooth Slime-Encrusted Bone-Muncher,'' complete with slobbering purple-and-green portrait; a book of similarly humorous imaginary monsters might be a more appropriate vehicle for this team. (Nonfiction. 8-10)