Yuck!: A Big Book of Little Horrors [Hardcover]

Robert Snedden (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

Larger-than-life full-color photographs take a close-up look at common household items and the tiny creatures that lurk in every corner.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This photo-essay shows spread after spread of living, breathing, utterly bizarre landscapes, aswarm with alien creatures?no, it's not science fiction, but everyday items, magnified up to 35,000 times through microscopic photography. As the camera zooms in closer and closer, readers see and learn about dust mites, fungi, parasites and the like. A look at the average toothbrush magnified 200 times, for example, reveals a thriving colony of bacteria, while an up-close-and-personal tour of the breakfast table finds symmetrical crystal patterns in the sugar, as well as glutinous, utterly unappetizing crevasses in the buttered toast. Stunning from a design standpoint, the book's amazing photographs are balanced by generous white space and crisp type. Gatefold flaps on each spread add spice, coyly hiding the nature of the next household "horror" until the last possible minute. Snedden's writing is tight, his humor is hip (the section on such creatures as cockroaches and silverfish dares readers to "come face to face with the nightshift"), and his material is as intriguing as it is instructive. Boldly going where no picture book has gone with such pizzazz before, this one's a winner through and through. Ages 5-10.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2^-5, younger for reading aloud. A microscope reveals the disgusting, secret horrors of home. Tiny hidden dust mites, bacteria, fungi, parasites, hairs, and food particles are shown hugely magnified in close-up color photographs. On the left-hand side of each double-page spread is a mystery view of what looks like an alien monster or a moon landscape; open the flap on the right-hand page, and you discover the commonplace thing you're really seeing as well as pictures of other creatures like it. The combination of puzzle and yucky answer is a dramatic way to reveal the excitement of science, and a lot of precise information is given in the caption of each picture. One of the best pages is about the human body ("You!" ), with pictures of two hairs growing from a human scalp, beads of sweat, etc. The informal tone lends itself to participation and reading aloud, though it is sometimes just too chirpy and cute; in some paragraphs almost every sentence ends in an exclamation mark ("This is a toothbrush!" ) or a rhetorical question ("Does that thought make you itch?" ). But the photos in clear, brilliant color are strange and beautiful, the facts are astonishing, and the science is amazing. Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689806760
• ISBN-13: 978-0689806766
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,853,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yuck! Look at what's crawling all over you and your stuff!, April 2, 2007

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Yuck!: A Big Book of Little Horrors (Hardcover)

What an excellent view of microscopic horrors! This book, basically designed for kids, contains horrors that will cause the coldest of horror aficionados to shudder ... every time you brush your teeth! It's not just for kids.

'Yuck!' is a slim volume but large sized to provide better visuals for the creepy-crawly microscopic horrors marching across each foldout page. I have a "visual" brain, and the visuals provided in 'Yuck!' are fantastic. The pictures are stunning. The foldout pages offer up more info in a spread layout, exposing "cheese puffs" on pinheads and the mess found on the "french-fry" stems of your toothbrush.

Using magnification into the thousands, 'Yuck!' exposes ticks, fleas, hair and body lice, dust mites, garden pests, and bacteria, "fur" in your teakettle, cheese-puffs on your pins (and you know this includes your earrings too) mites in your bed, and goo on your toothbrush.

The prose is simple enough for kids to understand, and in a pleasing layout. The pictures are expert and many are quite large, giving you a very detailed view of the microscopic forest we live in.

I use this book for inspiration in my writing, to "go beyond the pale" and reach for secrets that our own world holds. But it's a good book for kids or grownups who wish to take a closer, informative look at bedroom, kitchen, or garden in a way that the naked eye could never fathom. For research, pick up used. If you have kids, it worth full price. Enjoy!

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for School Project, October 8, 2009

By 

Proud Mom (New England) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Yuck!: A Big Book of Little Horrors (Hardcover)

I used this book to illustrate to my students that non-fiction doesn't have to be boring! They loved the project where they wrote their own Yuck! inspired non-fiction reports.