Mythical Monsters: The Scariest Creatures from Legends, Books, and Movies

So many monsters with great descriptions!

Love the illustrations and the stories were a great read. Highly recommend for all ages

I picked this up at a school book fair a few year ago, and I absolutely loved it. The artwork is excellent. The author gives so much information about these creatures and where the live and how big they are and what not. One of the best non-novel book in my collection. Other titles in the series include---Dragons: Fearsome Monsters From Myth And Legend, and Monsters And Villains Of The Movies And Literature

The illustrations in Mythical Monsters are second to none. The details in the coloured drawings of each creature are incredible. Whilst this book is certainly not a comprehensive listing of current and past monsters it does have a good range to read about. What's good about this collection as well is that the reader gets to learn about monsters from all over the world, not just their own country or continent. As well as the great pictures, there's also a scale showing the size of the creature compared to a human. There's also a where in the world map, just in case you want to actually plan a holiday around trying to see one of these creatures. No doubt there will be many in here you also have not heard of before or at the very least ones you had only heard in name only so being able to see what they look like as well as read some information on them will definitely broaden your monster knowledge. The book's text is very simply laid out and easy to read. Kids would easily be able to read it but importantly it doesn't use words in a way that make it sound like a kids' book. Monsters listed include Ancient Legends - Black Dog, Bogeyman, Chupacabra, Gogmagog, Golem, Leviathan, Mer People, Mummy, Tokoloshe and Troll Mythical Monsters - Basilisk, Crebus, Chimaera, Cyclops, Fenrir, Gorgon, Griffin, Harpy, Hydra, Kraken, Maticore, Minotaur, Oni, Roc, Scylla, Sphinx, Thunderbird and Wyvern. Media Monsters - Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Gargantua, Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra and Werewolf. Modern Monsters - Bigfoot, Gray Alien, Hopkinsville Goblin, Jersey Devil, Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, Reptoid Alien, Yeti and the Yowie. It's a good book check it out!

From the Basilisk to the Yowie, this book contains 44 impressively illustrated mythical monsters. These monsters are neatly contained (!)according to their origin - `Ancient Legends and Folklore' includes the Black Dog, the Golem, the Leviathan and the Troll. `Mythological Monsters' includes Cerberus, Scylla, the Hydra and the Wyvern. `Media Monsters' feature Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Gargantua, Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra (my personal favourite) and the Werewolf. `Modern Monsters' currently includes creatures as diverse as Bigfoot, the Hopkinsville Goblin, the Jersey Devil, the Loch Ness Monster and the Yowie. This is a book aimed at ages 7 and up. Reading it as an adult, I was impressed with the way in which the author included maps and information boxes describing the background to each monster. I was also impressed with the full colour artwork. Writing as a mother (and also as a 7 year old once upon a time, in a century now past) I am not sure that all seven year olds would be capable of differentiating fact from fantasy. Personally, I wouldn't suggest it as an unsupervised read at that age. Children are different: some will enjoy the pictures, accept the stories and move on. Others might incorporate the monsters into their own rich inner world and be afraid. Some children, though, will rejoice in an opportunity to explore myths and this book may well provide a useful starting point. This is a book I would not hesitate to buy for some children, and welcome into my own library. Jennifer Cameron-Smith