Okay, so this technically isn't a School Book Club book..but I thought I'd just stick it along with the others anyway...instead, this book has been around in my house for as long as I can remember, and probably helped fuel my love for monsters, spooks, vampires, werewolves and Halloween!
My copy is a bit worse for wear, but I managed to find scans of a copy at a certain archive, so that's where these are from...
I love how it manages to take monsters from all over and throughout history and give nice detailed descriptions of them!
The Berbalangs are a personal favourite, and that is what the creature on the cover is I believe....and it both freaked me out and delighted me in equal measure as a kid!
As did the bizzareness of the Catoblepas....it's such a pointless creature that it just HAS to exist, right??
And going from Frankenstein to Ganesha just shows the variety of the creatures on offer in these pages... I love this book!
It also started my love of Yokai, along with my favourite The Kappa!
That image of the Squonk has made it one of my favourite monsters, and I really feel for the poor creature and wish it was more widely known...and accepted! And why would you want to capture a poor Squonk anyway!?
The other thing I love about the book is that not only does it give you a long list of how to avoid becoming a vampire, but also a long list on how to defeat a vampire!
I'm sure you'll agree it's a great book! Apparently there are a few updated versions, which remove some monsters and add others, but this is the version I have and so its the version I will always love! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed looking at it, and good luck if you go out seeking a copy for yourselves!
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Definitely looks like a fun book!
ReplyDeleteIt's so good Joe...can't recommend it enough!
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