The Alien Hunter's Guide

Gr 4–6—These entertaining and creepy instructional guides identify supernatural creatures across cultures and through the ages. A white font on black backgrounds, grotesque photographs and illustrations, and oozing colors around chapter headings create a suitably chilling atmosphere, enhanced by a dramatic, second-person narration ("Imagine yourself…"). However, the series fails to distinguish strongly between fact and fiction in places. For example, tales of ghost armies that reportedly participated in historical battles are presented as factual and while a lurid image in Alien of scientists hovering over an unconscious alien at Roswell contains a disclaimer, readers may come away with a different impression. Though exhaustive in scope, covering well-known hauntings from Amityville to obscure vampires (the loogaroos of the Caribbean), some chapters are hastily gathered, omitting significant information. Frequent images and quotations from movies (Twilight, Halloween) make this series fun light reading, but it's not without its drawbacks.