The Monsterology Handbook: A Practical Course in Monsters

Are there monsters among us? Comb through this essential handbook to learn the secrets that even respected scientists don’t know.

Is it true that a humble stone can summon a sea serpent to your aid?
Do you know the best way to remedy a cyclops’s "lazy eye"? What bison-like creature burns its enemies with venomous dung (and must be approached from the front)? How does one reliably tell true beasts from false, and what do stitches and glue have to do with it? Even monsterologists who know their bigfoots from their bakus can be stymied by the unexpected, and here is a no-nonsense source brimming with fun hands-on lessons guaranteed to leave the reader confident and prepared. Among this lavish handbook’s special features are:
— two envelopes with pull-out surprises
— a removable certificate of achievement
— four pages of monstrous stickers
— fact files on beasts of the earth, water, and air — as well as monsters that are semi-human

Are there monsters among us? Comb through this essential handbook to learn the secrets that even respected scientists don’t know.

Is it true that a humble stone can summon a sea serpent to your aid?
Do you know the best way to remedy a cyclops’s "lazy eye"? What bison-like creature burns its enemies with venomous dung (and must be approached from the front)? How does one reliably tell true beasts from false, and what do stitches and glue have to do with it? Even monsterologists who know their bigfoots from their bakus can be stymied by the unexpected, and here is a no-nonsense source brimming with fun hands-on lessons guaranteed to leave the reader confident and prepared. Among this lavish handbook’s special features are:
— two envelopes with pull-out surprises
— a removable certificate of achievement
— four pages of monstrous stickers
— fact files on beasts of the earth, water, and air — as well as monsters that are semi-human

VOYA

This companion book to Monsterology: The Complete Book of Monstrous Beasts (Candlewick, 2008) offers practical tips for budding monsterologists on how to identify and find fabulous beasts in the wild. There are also tips for the care and rearing of monsters, based on the work of monsterologists at the famed Sanctuary for Fabulous Beasts in St. Leonard's Forest. Purported to be the recently discovered, hundred-year-old lost work of celebrated monsterologist Dr. Ernest Drake, this tongue-in-cheek handbook also includes homework assignments that even those without access to monsters can complete, which could be fun and unusual classroom or library program activities. The handbook features color and sepia-toned illustrations of the different beasts, maps, charts, and accounts from monsterologists about their encounters with monsters. In addition to a four-page pullout of stickers, there is also a removable map and certificate, items to consider when selecting the book for purchase and preparing it for circulation. Tween fantasy fans will enjoy this course in fantastic beasts and will be encouraged to discover more about them, as well as to stretch their imaginations by creating beasts of their own. Perhaps better suited for owning than for library circulation, it would make a delightful gift for a budding young Hagrid. Reviewer: Vikki Terrile

Dugald A. Steer, Editor: "With what trepidation I sat down to give my editorial attentions to what was clearly the masterwork of a very erudite man, should be obvious to all who read this book." So begins a letter, written in 1894, from Dugald Steer to an Oxford friend. The letter goes on to explain how a chance meeting with Dr. Ernest Drake at the BULL'S HEAD TAVERN in Dorking, Surrey, made him more than a little curious. Skeptical at first, he took up Dr. Drake's offer to meet him at his house and St. Leonard's Forest, and to attend one of the S.A.S.D. meetings in London. There, he became further involved in Dr. Drake's work, joining him on an expedition to Scotland to try and estimate the hunting range of the Dornoch Wyrm. As he writes, the trip was, "a cause of some emotion, as many of my relative, particularly the Ross branch, come from so near."

Douglas Carrel, Chief Draughtsman: A native of Scotland, Douglas Carrel was clearly a dragonologist of some standing, and often accompanied Dr. Drake on some of his more fruitful expeditions. In a letter from Constantinople to the editor he says, "It is with considerable sense of honour, and no small amount of pride, that I lend my hand to the compiling of this most worthy volume . . . Ultimately, I feel that all of us—within this privileged circle in particular—are duty-bound to preserve and perpetuate the love and lore of dragons."

Helen Ward, Scientific Artist: Helen Ward trained as an illustrator at Brighton School of Art, although it is not known exactly when she came into contact with Dr. Drake. However a quote from her autobiography makes some things clear: "As a child I dreamed of dragons. When age allowed, I traveled. Unfortunately, several expeditions to Europe and one to that part of Russia known as Finland specifically to capture the likeness of a live dragon have ended in failure. The creatures seemed deliberately elusive . . .. With the help of descriptions, notes, and detailed drawings made by others I have managed to illustrate these majestic creatures to the satisfaction of those more fortunate and better-informed dragonologists."

Wayne Anderson, Pictorial Artist: Interested in cryptozoology from an early age, Wayne Anderson first came into contact with S.A.S.D. at one of their meetings in Wyvern Way in London. It was after a couple of trips with Drake—to the Alps in 1878 and to Scotland in 1880—that Wayne realized his early dragon drawings were, in fact, more life-like than he could have realised. Like most of the other collaborators on DRAGONOLOGY, he has contributed to many other books for children. He enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with Helen Ward that resulted in books such as THE TIN FOREST and THE DRAGON MACHIINE.

Nghiem Ta, Artistic Direction: Dr. Drake met Nghiem Ta in the Fukien (now Fujian) Province of China where she was working in her grandfather's bookshop. Their shared interest in dragons became evident when he showed her a copy of the fabled DRAGON SUTRA of Hong Wei, which the monks of that monastery made for him as a gift. He asked Miss Ta if such a revered object could be bound into a book and was so impressed with her work that he later invited her to London to oversee the creation of DRAGONOLOGY.