Youch!: Real-life Monsters Up Close - Hardcover

Gr. 3-5. Following the same format as Robert Snedden's Yuck! (1996) and Mike Janulewicz's Yikes! (1997), which focused on the minute life found in the home and on the body respectively, Youch! delivers another terrifying compendium of microscopic views, this time featuring "real-life monsters, up close." The monsters here include poisonous frogs, spiders, and snakes; carnivorous fish; stinging insects, and plants. All are photographed with such magnified, eye-popping clarity that they appear to be almost 3-D. Each spread offers a clue to the creature pictured, with the answer and surprisingly detailed, clearly explained facts underneath a foldout flap. The text is exuberant, and despite groan-inducing puns ("What a mouseful!" reads the caption beneath a photo of a snake with a rodent in its jaws), will draw young readers into the topics covered. A final quiz offers children the chance to match a photo of a bite mark on human skin with a creepy, crawly, or slithery perpetrator. A queasy, entertaining glimpse into zoology. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Grade 3-5-Insects, reptiles, plants, fish, amphibians, and parasites that bite or sting are magnified, vilified, and sensationalized in this oversized, profusely illustrated book. Each double-page spread with a right-hand foldout tantalizes readers with a large, stunning color photo and a textual grabber such as: "One of these creatures is a killer." Neither organized for research nor indexed, the book is simply scary fun. For the timid, it would be helpful to know exactly where the tiny blue-ringed octopus with "enough venom to kill ten full-grown people" resides. The concluding "ugly little wound," highly magnified on human skin and surrounded by eight possible animal culprits, is a masterfully gross intellectual puzzle. Those who prefer political correctness for animals should look elsewhere, but this book will draw browsers and readers in and offers plenty of thrills and chills to those who enter.
Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.