Meet the snoligoster, who feeds on the shadows of its victims. The whirling whimpus, who once laid low an entire Boy Scout troop. And the hoop snake, who can chase prey at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and then, with one sting of its venomous tail, cause it to turn purple, swell up, and-alas-die. These and 17 other fearsome creatures are among the most fantastical beasts in American folklore. Their stories, as narrated by one of the last surviving cryptozoologists, are best enjoyed while sitting around a campfire. If you dare.

Across 1400 years and six continents (sorry, Australia), Impossible Histories examines pivotal moments in history from both sides--what happened and what would have happened had things gone differently. The results are by turns strange, hilarious, tragic...and always fascinating. Imagine a world in which... - Hitler builds a thousand-year Reich - Columbus gets driven from the Americas by mounted knights - Robespierre decapitates Caesar Augustus - The Inca Empire has an air force - Jimmy Carter presses the Button These brave new worlds are merely our own, familiar world--if something small had happened differently. We're all one elephant away from peace in the Middle East, one knife thrust away from nuclear Armageddon. This book examines twenty pivotal moments in history, asks what if?..., and drags the answers kicking and screaming into the light. History--factual and counterfactual has never been so entertaining. A whirlwind ride through history as it never happened--but could have.

Congratulations on your acceptance to the Apprentice Academy, one of the world's finest institutions for knightly education. Your course of study here will prepare you for a career as a knight--or, optionally, a samurai, Viking, border-raider, or really any type of sword-swinging warrior. Swinging a sword is inherently dangerous, but this guide will help you complete your education while minimizing the twin risks of 1. getting maimed and 2. working too hard. Learn how to: - Fight people! - Fight dragons! - Fight giants! - Fight monsters! - Fight everything else! - Go on quests! - Die honorably! - And more! Please follow all instructions carefully. If you go off on your own and try something silly, and then get your head chopped off of your body bitten in two, don't start drafting a letter of complaint. You had fair warning.

For readers who have always wanted to enroll in a school for magic--be it Hogwarts with Harry Potter or Camp Halfblood with Percy Jackson! Wizard lovers will delight in pretending they're learning magic from a cheat-sheet handbook from an elite school for sorcery. Welcome to the Apprentice Academy. Congratulations on your acceptance to one of the world's finest institutions for sorcery. Your course of study here will be long and perilous, but this book of sorcery skills and fascinating tales from the world of magic will help you along the way--ideally with all your limbs and wits intact. Learn how to: - Read minds! - Prophesize! - Perform a love spell! - Choose an animal familiar! - Turn anything into gold! - Summon demons! - Find a lair! - And more! But most of all learn to cheat, or, rather, to weasel through without actually cheating. Please follow all instructions carefully, as one wrong move can transform your hands into forks or serpents, and then you will have a hard time turning the page. Inspired by folklore and mythology around the world, Apprentice Academy: Sorcerers is a rich, multicultural exploration and celebration of magic from not just Europe, but also from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. Narrated by a witty and weaseling character who supplies cheat sheets to students, Apprentice Academy opens the door on an exciting new world of magic and myth, chivalry and royalty, with the second book in the series-Knights-scheduled for Spring 2024.

Monsters are a total treat for kids. They turn up in stories and fairy tales all over the world, give kids thrilling yet safe shivers, help them work out real fears and anxieties, and empower them in the same way that dinosaurs do, inhabiting the kind of world that's special in part because grown-ups are too busy and boring to pay attention to it. The Big Book of Monsters revels in this magic appeal and delivers an unparalleled compendium of 25 of the creepiest, the spookiest, the most wicked and dreadful creatures found in classic literature. It's a who's who of the baddest of the bad, from those paradigms of literary terror, Dracula and Frankenstein; to the creatures of myth, both Western - like Polyphemus, the human-devouring one-eyed Cyclops of Homer - and not, like the Japanese Goblin-Spider; to witches, werewolves, golems, spirits, and scary human anomalies including the Headless Horseman, Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, and Rappaccini's daughter, the poisonous maiden of Padua. Every monster is brought to life first in a full-size, full-colour portrait that captures the essence of the beast, and in lively text that recounts the story, highlights the gruesome details, and rates each monster on the Scare-o-Meter. Sidebars explore the source texts, giving readers a geniunely exciting introduction to literary genres and history, and making this book especially valuable for reluctant readers.