October 1, 2014
Grades 1-4 For young fantasy-adventure nuts, this entry in the Fantasy Field Guides series is a must-have. Organized like a typical wildlife guide, the pages introduce a range of humanoid creatures with information about their habitats, life cycles, and behavior. Being a field guide to, well, fantasy, it does play fast and loose with some of the established facts of certain myths: King Oberon would certainly be dismayed at the assertion that there's no such thing as a male fairy, for example, especially as A Midsummer Night's Dream is referenced several times. Still, this is skillfully laid out and dynamically illustrated, and browsers will enjoy paging through the fantastical spreads. A closing quiz tests readers' grasp of the material, adding an interactive experience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)