Werewolves

04/01/2014Gr 4–6—Rather than focusing on more general myths and legends, ABDO's mixed-quality series offers a peek into specific monsters and mythical beasts as they appear in world mythologies. By necessity, each of the books is somewhat brief, rather than delving into any topic in depth. Unicorns is the best of the set, narrowing its focus primarily on the Medieval romantic unicorn, providing small anecdotes about earlier appearances of unicornlike creatures in mythology, and leading into modern depictions of unicorns in popular fiction. Bigfoot and Yeti and Werewolves do an excellent job with their subject material, despite some minor flaws. Vampires misses out on some great early Eastern European folklore, focusing primarily on literary vampires instead, and claims Hindu goddess Kali as a vampire, which seems a stretch. Dragons focuses too much on creatures that might have been mistaken for dragons and not enough on the actual folklore. Textbooklike exercises included in the books help highlight Common Core connections, but unless the volumes are used in the classroom, readers are likely to skip over this feature completely. As titles within this series vary, purchase accordingly.