The Hidden Bestiary

One more thing for this week! Check out The Hidden Bestiary of Marvelous, Mysterious, and (Maybe Even) Magical Creatures which was just recently released by Sleeping Bear Press. I wasn't sure what to think of it when I first received it. I looked at the cover art, was intrigued and found it highly suspect for two year old purposes. I wasn't sure if the images would be too scary for him or not. He loves animals but doesn't like "weird things" and I wasn't sure, from the cover illustration if he would deem it "weird" (i.e., scary). My hesitations were removed once we cracked open the cover of the book and discovered lots of fun animals and interesting hidden picture page spreads.

The storyline follows that of Explorer Basil Bernard Barnswhitten who has a list of creatures that he needs to verify that seem to have escaped from an exhibit at the Finchhaven Museum of Extraordinary Curiosities, Oddities & Improbabilities. He begins his travels around the world to see if he can track down the creatures on the list.

Each page, as I mentioned, has pictures of hidden animals on it. Elephant heads make up tree trunks, rabbits are hidden in rocks. Poor Basil Bernard Barnswhitten can't seem to find anything! But can you? That's the fun of this book. (Take a good look at the cover art to get a feel for how this book operates.)

At the very back of The Hidden Bestiary there is information on some of the crazy creatures in this book, listing the names and extinction dates for animals such as the Golden Toad, the Dodo bird, and even mentions the mythical Loch Ness Monster. There is a pretty intriguing and entertaining list of animals which was fun to read through.

Cute. Clever. Different. In the end, we really liked it.