Gruesome Guide to World Monsters [Hardcover]

Judy Sierra (Author), Henrik Drescher (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Make room in your suitcase for this monstrously entertaining guide to fantastic creatures around the world — and how to elude them.

I did not make any of this up.

Do you know why you should have baby teeth handy when visiting the Midwest? Or why you should bring a cucumber with you when swimming in Japan? How good are you at solving Russian riddles? From Boston to Bejing, from Moscow to Mali, any place you visit has its own terrifying tales of very real creatures. Complete with handy "gruesomeness ratings," this guide offers all the important facts on some sixty-three folkloric monsters and how (if possible!) to survive an encounter with them. Meticulously researched by Judy Sierra and illustrated in grotesque detail by Henrik Drescher, here is the ultimate resource for any world traveler, armchair or otherwise, hoping to make it home alive.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–Drescher's crudely drawn, luridly colored, mixed-media Monsters from the Id-style portraits, which provide perfect jumping-off points for susceptible young imaginations, are matched with Sierra's brief introductions to dozens of ugly customers from world folklore. Along with the few that will provoke shivers of recognition, such as the Australian Bunyip, she offers wonderfully provocative warnings against creatures as diverse as the giant skunk Aniwye, the blood-sucking bat Mansusopsop, and Bloody Mary, an evil specter who lives on the other side of mirrors, especially the mirrors of elementary-school bathrooms. Though the author does not provide specific source notes, she does give each entry a general area of origin, as well as a skull-and-crossbones Gruesomeness Rating and a Survival Tip, if any. This crowd pleaser is a perfect lead-in to Daniel Cohen's spine-chilling tales, or more broadly focused reference titles, such as Rosemary Ellen Guiley's Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (Facts On File, 2004).–John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. In this exquisitely presented parody of a field guide (similar in approach to Dragonology, without the novelty elements), Sierra's controlled text provides a counterweight to artwork that's like graffiti scribbled on the walls of Bedlam. But don't assume Sierra's role is exclusively moderating. In delivering the vital stats of more than 60 monsters, she reveals a deliciously macabre side (one Brazilian beastie "massages his victim's body until it is as soft as a ripe avocado . . . [and] sucks out all his organs"), while layering doses of deadpan humor among the chilling details ("Survival hints" for facing the French grim reaper? "Not applicable."). Some readers may wish for maps locating the monsters' native lands, as well as notes about specific cultural sources. Still, this will delight junior-high readers and older devotees of Terry Jones' Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (1994) and Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1997), who will exult in the Bosch-like envisioning, and then mull over Sierra's endnote about the cautionary purposes served by monster stories. For readers looking for a milder scare, suggest Linda Ashman's The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide (2003). Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (July 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076361727X
• ISBN-13: 978-0763617271
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.5 x 11.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,057,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in a very creative, book-loving family. My father was a photographer, and my mother was a librarian. They read to me constantly, especially poetry. When I was seven, they built me a puppet theater and I gave my first performance, "The Three Wishes." In college I studied literature, and afterwards I became a children's librarian. A few years later, I set out on my own as a puppeteer, quickly joining forces with another puppet artist, who became my husband. We studied traditional puppetry in Indonesia, and traveled all over the U.S. as teachers and artists-in-residence. About twenty years ago, I combined what I had learned as an avid reader and writer, as a librarian and children's entertainer, and began writing books for children. All of my books are meant to be read aloud and dramatized. To learn more about how each of my books came to be, please visit my web site: http://www.judysierra.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gruesome guide a cult classic!, December 10, 2005

By 

Santa Cruz Sally (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gruesome Guide to World Monsters (Hardcover)

This is a totally weird and wonderful book not just for young folks but also for adults who have a wicked sense of humor. The warnings are funny, and the graphics reminded me of Japanese comic books...I bought it for my husband.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice introduction to dozens of monsters from around the world, March 3, 2006

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gruesome Guide to World Monsters (Hardcover)

"The Gruesome Guide to World Monsters" is presented as a travel guide that will help you plan how to meet (and how to flee) the various monsters of the world. But you have to understand going in that the advice given here are only proven methods for escaping or overcoming SOME of these monsters, SOME of the time. So forget about a money back guarantee that you will come back from your vacation alive, because with some of these survival tips I am pretty sure they are just making things up to give young readers a false sense of hope. All of the monsters that Judy Sierra writes about and which are illustrated by Henrik Drescher are "real" in the sense that they are a genuine part of the world's folklore and have been around for thousands of years.

The book is divided geographically so that you learn about the monsters closest to home in North America before moving on to Central and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. For each we are told the location where you can find the monster (e.g., watch out for the Cannibal Baby in the Rocky Mountains). Then there is the five point scale of the Gruesomeness Ratings: (1) Frightening, are monsters that are scary but not life-threatening, of which there is only one example, the Baku of Japan that comes into your bedroom at night and eats your bad dreams; (2) Dangerous, are monsters that smart travelers can avoid or overcome, such as Zombis; (3) Very Dangerous, are those monsters where you chances of surviving a meeting are 50-50 at best, such as Bloody Mary, the evil spectre who lives on the other side of mirrors; (4) Usually Fatal, are monsters to avoid at all costs, such as the Vukodlak of Serbia, a wicked person who lives on after death; and then (5) Fatal, where once the monster sees you it is too late, which includes the Jinn of North and Central Africa that kidnap people and cause diseases.

For each monster there is also a brief description, and most importantly the Survival Tip (e.g., the Ovda of Finland will apparently become powerless if you touch its left armpit). The illustrations should be appealing to younger readers because, quite frankly, they often look like something kids would draw. The exception that proves the rule would be the wicked painting of the Aniwye, a giant skunk that inhabits the Great Lakes region, which means that living here on the shore of Lake Superior if I hear the sound of giant teeth crunching the roof above my bed, I need to exit immediately. In her afterword Sierra explains some of the necessary roles that these monsters have played in the lives of people, from making sure children stay away from caves and forests to preserving the balance of nature. "The Gruesome Guide to World Monsters" is a nice little introduction to the monsters that people have been talking about for centuries, and if a young reader wants to find out more about the Kishi of Zimbabwe or the Nakk of Sweden, there is certainly enough here for them to be able to look elsewhere for more information.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Gruesome Guide!!!!!, July 29, 2006

By 

Kirara "dragonsonic4" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gruesome Guide to World Monsters (Hardcover)

This book is extremely interesting to me because it talks about the locations of each monster and what each monster does to unsuspecting travelers. Also, this book talks about how to survive each encounter with each monster in great detail. The monsters are rated as (1) Frightening, (2) Dangerous, (3) Very Dangerous, (4) Usually Fatal, and (5) Fatal, with the fatal monsters usually having no survival tips for the travelers.

My favorite monsters in this book were the Sigbin, a beagle monster whose intestinal gas is deadly, the Kishi, who has half a handsome face and half a hyena face, the Rolling Head, who ate his whole body and goes after travelers and eat them, the cannibal baby, who sucks up the flesh of unsuspecting travelers, and the Curupira, who sucks out all the organs of hunters who harm the animals in Brazil.

This book is great for people who want to know more about the monsters of the world and how to survive them. This book is extremely entertaining for both children and adults. The adults will enjoy the book because of it description of all the monsters and the children will enjoy the book for Henrik Drescher's childish yet detailed drawings of the monsters.