Stimulating fare for both outdoor and armchair cryptid hunters.
A handy guide to high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech tools for tracking down Mongolian death worms and similarly elusive creatures worldwide.
“Animals, it turns out, are really good at hiding.” Grouping select cryptids by type—sea and lake monsters, those that are wolflike, batlike, or apelike, and so forth—Long pairs summary reports of sightings and general descriptions of each creature with descriptions of gear and techniques that readers may use to verify that the animals actually exist. Recent advances in technology have expanded the tool kit considerably, so in addition to relying on standbys like radar, sonar, and trained dogs, researchers can analyze DNA floating in water and even air, break down recordings of ambient sounds in forests and other habitats, and employ nearly silent aerial or deep-sea drones. These technologies can also be used to track down actual as well as legendary fauna, of course, as the author points out with examples of species that have wrongly turned out to be considered extinct, along with suggestions for careers in biology from zoologist to wildlife computer scientist. Still, the stars of the show here are the cryptids. They’re seldom more than vague shapes in Miles’ understated illustrations, and Bigfoot doesn’t even make the cut. At times, the author’s skepticism about many of the others shows through. Nevertheless, there are frights and marvels aplenty left for believers. “Adventure awaits,” she writes, “so let the search begin!”
Stimulating fare for both outdoor and armchair cryptid hunters. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780762485758
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
This bittersweet tale takes readers into a dark, ancient woods in the American Northwest. A father and son make this forest their special place to commune with the wild, to visit with the creatures that live therein, and to revel in the mesmerizing views. One day they find spots painted on the trees, markings for loggers. The boy and his father and family ignite a small grassroots resistance to the felling of the trees. They fight for something they believe in—it is almost a sacred obligation for them—but they are unsuccessful: the laws governing private property prevail. The trees are cut and, luckily, the father and son find another stand in which to take solace. The Rands (A Home for Spooky, 1998, etc.) offer a bright fusion of the cautionary and the inspirational, and the artwork is effective in conveying the outsized majesty of the old growth. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-5466-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
A picture book combines the exuberance of children and the drama found in nature for a sly lesson on power-sharing. Henderson (Newborn, 1999, etc.) lands on the wide reaches of a windy beach where young Jim expansively flings wide his arms and claims “All this is mine!” So it seems until the wind blows in a gale so violent that it smashes objects and tears “through the dreams of people sleeping.” An eerie series of black-and-white paintings shows the white-capped waves breaking ever higher and crashing inland; these are so frightening that Jim cries out to his mother, “The sea! It’s coming!” Happily enough, Jim and his mother are able to run up the hill to a grandmother’s house where they weather the storm safely. The next time Jim speaks to the wind, on a much quieter beach, he whispers, “All this is yours.” Large type, appealing pastel illustrations, and a dose of proper perspective on humankind’s power over nature make this book a fine choice for story hours as well as nature collections. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7636-0904-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
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