Readers on the lookout for something wicked this way coming will be terrified, grossed out, delighted.
A thrilling gallery of boojums drawn from the pages, scrolls, and clay tablets of literary classics.
Staying in the public domain aside from a few brief excursions, Johnson (Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, 2015) selects 25 monsters and arranges them alphabetically from “Apep” and “Beatrice Rappaccini” to “Zahhak” (a cursed king from Persian literature with brain-eating snakes growing on his shoulders, woohoo!). For each he supplies a two- or three-page plot summary that incorporates occasional quotes and a basic fact box. Each main entry gets a “Fear Factor” rating designated with screaming-skull symbols (Dracula and Guy de Maupassant’s invisible Horla join Zahhak to lead the pack with five; the Jabberwock rates just two). In an often fascinating aftersection dubbed “Beyond the Book,” Johnson lays out literary or historical background, grants nods to similar tales (such as Rabelais’ Gargantua, “a philosophical work and a collection of toilet jokes”), or just takes up fascinating tangential topics. His range of interests and informal style (“ ‘Don’t worry, I got this,’ said Beowulf”) make him a particularly engaging tour guide, and at the end he not only lists more monsters that did not make the cut, but also conscientiously cites and discusses his classic sources and translations. Sievert goes for lurid effects in his illustrations, depicting menacing figures with glowing eyes, half-rotten undead, and toothy, slavering monsters.
Readers on the lookout for something wicked this way coming will be terrified, grossed out, delighted. (timeline, further reading) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5235-0711-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A close look at the human animal—informative despite a severe lack of overall context.
A broad overview of what makes us tick and, more superficially, what makes us human.
Loosely related to an exhibit of the same name at the London Science Museum, the survey organizes single-topic spreads into four general areas: the brain and nervous system; heredity and evolution; emotions and social communication; and reproduction and development. The busy design features dazzling washes of color that provide few places for eyes to rest, mid-sized blocks of commentary and relatively technical explanatory captions. These mingle with elaborate montages of photographed children, medical and microphotography and photorealistic digital images of human anatomy rendered with a plastic sheen. Other animals, even other primates, get barely a nod as discussions of language, emotion, multiple kinds of intelligence, gender identity, individual personality, sex and attractiveness, aging and all the rest stay closely focused on human traits and features. Readers will come away with a few mistaken ideas—no, all bacteria are not bad—but also a clearer picture of how our bodies and brains function.
A close look at the human animal—informative despite a severe lack of overall context. (review questions, personality test, multimedia resource list) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: June 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7534-67114
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These portraits, while mightily jaundiced by the author’s selectivity and perspective, do offer readers a warts-and-all look...
Borrowing the “dream team” trope from superhero comics, O’Brien invites readers to evaluate each of 39 dead presidents (George Washington through Ronald Reagan, excepting Jimmy Carter) on his merits.
Claiming that “every good team needs Brains, Brawn, a Loose Cannon, a Moral Compass, and a Roosevelt,” the author first presents his own picks. (His Roosevelt is TR.) Each chapter begins with a crowning epithet, important dates, family information, and a “Fun Fact.” Franklin Pierce “Is Handsome but Ultimately Useless”; FDR is “Rolling Thunder.” Black-and-white illustrations riff on the superhero and comics motifs. O’Brien’s essays are a rambling mix of fact, opinion, and jokey bluster. Andrew Jackson’s exploits as a soldier and compulsive duelist crowd out much mention of his actual presidency. Woodrow Wilson, “The Half-Dead President,” is cast as highly accomplished but wracked with physical ailments. Post–World War I, as he stumped relentlessly, promoting his unpopular League of Nations idea, “his body started falling apart in a really bizarre way.…morphing so that his appearance began to match his inner anger/craziness.” O’Brien unequivocally condemns Wilson’s racism, claiming of presidents who owned slaves, “Most of those guys were less racist than Wilson.”
These portraits, while mightily jaundiced by the author’s selectivity and perspective, do offer readers a warts-and-all look at two centuries of presidential leadership and politics. (further reading, websites, bibliography, source notes) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53747-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
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