Weird But True Food

November 1, 2011

Gr 1-2-Well designed to inject jolts of interest into emerging readers, each of these mini-albums presents marvels-from crowd-pleasing information about fried crickets and durian (a fruit that "smells like dead fish or dirty toilets!") in Food to giant hailstones and lenticular clouds in Weather. Each spread features a paragraph about the strange thing or phenomenon, opens with an attention-grabbing headline ("Kuiper Belt/Can it hold up your pants?"), and closes with the refrain, "It's weird, but it's true!" Large color photos or illustrations reflect the featured subjects. The back matter in each volume will stoke further curiosity nicely.

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
This volume highlights unusual--putatively--foods. Beginning with a brief "Words to Know" glossary and the food pyramid, the book offers eight double-page spreads about specific weirdnesses (e.g., eating malodorous durian fruit, drinking cow's blood, using seaweed in ice cream). Excellent color photos and accessible but limited text are not well served by the classification of foreign cultural norms as "weird." Reading list, websites. Ind.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)