A Curious Collection of Dangerous Creatures: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Curious Collection of Creatures)

There is no end to animal books, so bringing out a new one, especially at the middle-grade level, requires something really unique in order to stand out. This book takes a good look at sixty animals that are dangerous and scary. The Blue Dragon, a sea slug that is beautiful and small, has a sting that will cause welts, swelling, increased heart rate, and vomiting, while the Golden Poison Frog is so toxic that if it licks a person, it can kill him or her, and its skin has enough toxins to kill twenty people!

Each of the animals covered is quite dangerous and interesting, and each has its own spread with a close-up illustration, a paragraph with general information about the animal, its specific danger and why it’s so dangerous, what its conservation status is, what it eats, where it lives, and fun facts about it. The writing is lively and conversational. The illustrations are excellent and realistic, and the graphic design of the pages is attractive and designed to hold the interest of youngsters.

Once kids (and adults!) get their hands on this wonderful book, they will likely read it over and over. This is a real winner.