Youch!: Real-life Monsters Up Close [Hardcover]

Trevor Day (Author), Science Photo Library (Illustrator)

Book Description

Some say it's the little things that matter most. But as you'll discover in Youch! little things can be the most dangerous!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

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.

From Booklist

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

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689834160
• ISBN-13: 978-0689834165
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,632,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kids love scary stuff, and this book delivers!, August 10, 2001

By 

Robert Mcclain (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Youch!: Real-life Monsters Up Close (Hardcover)

Hypermagnified, strikingly posed or peacefully in wait, the creatures of "Youch!" are brought to life in words and pics that tell the story just as they are. Scary creatures! I read this with my 5 year old son last night and he was fascinated and not the least uncomfortable. Kids love to be shocked; witness the faces of children at a wild animal show or even the circus.

Love the format, love the photos.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book certainly does not bite, it's sensational!, June 8, 2004

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Youch!: Real-life Monsters Up Close (Hardcover)

This book is written in a style that appeals to readers of all ages. It has large colour pictures to satisfy those who cannot read at all, simple text for young children who can read it like a picture book without lifting the flaps and detailed small print for adults and older readers. This book has a flap on all of the right hand pages which on the front pose a question with a detailed answer hidden underneath. The contents of this riveting read explain about deadly creatures and those which are mistaken to be deadly killers just because they're scary looking. Sensational book, I highly recommend it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Youch! It's cool AND scary!, October 17, 2002

By 

Chess Heart "paxbear" (Canton, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Youch!: Real-life Monsters Up Close (Hardcover)

Most kids are, of course, totally fascinated by things that are slimy, squishy, walk on many hairy legs or potentially dangerous. Most kids will sit and play with caterpillars, pillbugs, frogs, toads and the like. Given the chance, most kids will even be interested in examining dead animals, like road kill, to see what's inside and what made `em tick. It's no surprise, then, that a good many kids would be TOTALLY fascinated with "Youch! It Bites!" and it's collection of strange-looking and potentially dangerous animals, plants and insects.

Taking a tour of some of the more well-known (and usually deadly) insects, plants and animals, the authors provide the reader with close-up pictures of things like black widow spiders, jellyfish, poison ivy, mosquitoes and the like. Each page has a large illustration and a lift-the-flap section that gives more detail (more GORY detail, perhaps) about the thing being discussed. Comparisons and contrasts are discussed, for example the fact that a giant, hairy tarantula isn't dangerous to humans but a teeny-tiny black widow is. Little known details and electron microscope scans are on practically every page for that extreme-close-up view of things you normally miss-- like the sharp end of a mosquito's needle-like (and hairy!) proboscis and the stinging fang of a spider.

Potential readers-- ESPECIALLY young readers-- should be aware that this book is not for the squeamish or the easily frightened! For example, both a snake and a TOAD are seen eating mice that they have killed. While this is perfectly normal for the animal and what it does to survive, the large picture of a toad with a mouse in it's mouth is somehow horrifying-- you don't think of toads going after something that big. A close-up of a row of piranha teeth, pointy and needle-sharp, might make an impressionable or sensitive child think twice about going in the water, even though these fish aren't found in North America.

In short, as a parent and teacher, there are kids who will really get into this book, and kids who will get nightmares from this book. Young children, who can't understand that they won't get stung by jellyfish or eaten by piranha in the local poor or lake, shouldn't read this book. Also, care should be taken when reading this book to young children, as it's text is rather sensational and full of references to fangs "dripping with venom" and spiders that "can kill a person." When *I* was a kid, something like this would have had me cringing in bed all day long!

The book is very good and the illustrations are excellent, no doubt about that. I'm not sure that the tabloid-headline style of the text is a good choice-- implying that kids can die horrible deaths by being bitten by a teeny spider or eaten alive by sharp-toothed fish is a bit over the top for my taste, but then again, I was always sensitive as a child.

Think carefully of who you're buying this book for, and enjoy the wild and dangerous world of poisonous animals, plants and insects!