Synopsis
A look at some of history's most famous hoaxes and publicity stunts, including fairy photographs, moon-men, lost tribes, and crop circles.
School Library Journal
Gr 3-4-There is no deception in this treatment of popular controversies. Early-20th-century fairy photographs; the Cardiff giant; the Tasadays, primitive people of the Philippines; British crop circles; and the 1835 New York Sun news hoax, "Life on the Moon," are all presented with equal irreverence here. Stories about the giant and the crop circles are found readily in many works, but the other tales are, perhaps, less well known to young people. Imaginative conversations among some of the principals involved coupled with the use of the present tense give these stories immediacy. Contemporary photographs and illustrations show the focus of each controversy. A few details of how the hoaxes were created are revealed. Pages with green and yellow highlights vie with black ones sporting white type for eye appeal. Delicate primitive-art designs also appear in the background of some pages to add a touch of mystery. This title may stir the interest of some readers to move on to Alex Boese's The Museum of Hoaxes (Penguin, 2003). Its myriad short accounts are like a bag of peanuts in their irresistibility. Others may also enjoy Daniel Cohen's Monsters, Giants and Little Men from Mars (Doubleday, 1975; o.p.) for its slightly deeper coverage of controversial stories.-Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.