cover image Cryptid Creatures: A Field Guide

Cryptid Creatures: A Field Guide

Kelly Milner Halls, illus. by Rick Spears. Little Bigfoot, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-63217-210-5

Among the 50 cryptid animals and beasts introduced in this guide are some that actually do—or once did—exist. Alongside the real creatures (the extinct aquatic coelacanth and the squirrellike isothrix barbarabrownae), subjects include infamous monsters: the Chupacabra, Kraken, Bigfoot, and Mothman, as well as those less familiar, such as the “Drop Bear” (“a ferocious, large-dog-size koala cousin” that drops from the trees) and the “Loveland Frog” (a bipedal amphibian). For each subject, Halls includes a “Reality Rating,” identifying whether the creature has been determined to be real, a hoax, or somewhere in between. Spears’s ashy blue drawings have the impromptu feel of field sketches, while facts and alleged eyewitness accounts lend further credence to this fun handbook. Halls also provides a heartening message to readers: for any cryptid proven nonexistent, there are plenty of other weird and wonderful species to compensate. Ages 7–up. [em](Sept.) [/em]