Gr 6–10—With only the barest dashes of skepticism, these handsomely produced surveys present budding cryptozoologists and conspiracy theorists with rich arrays of historical anecdotes and encounters, supposed evidence, "scientific" explanations of varying plausibility, and tantalizing speculations. Thanks to the magic of photo manipulation and digital painting, along with the usual blurry photos and cryptic artifacts a more satisfactory admixture of perfectly clear and realistic new images of Nessie, UFOs, Bigfoot, aliens, shipwrecks, floods, and weird natural phenomena provide suitably thrilling illustrations. Karst goes beyond standard issue recaps—ensuring, for instance, that readers will come away from Atlantis knowing more than they did about Madame Blavatsky, as well as Mu and Lemuria, and also expanding his topics with references to, at best, tangentially relevant mysteries such as the fate of Amelia Earhart in Loch Ness Monster.

Gr 7 Up—Readers interested in an academic review of mysterious phenomena will be well served by this series. Each book begins with an attention-grabbing introduction—a young child's past-life memories or Christopher Columbus's Bermuda Triangle experience. But the tone quickly turns to a reasoned examination of the history, science, and beliefs surrounding each mystery. Readers will learn about famous tales such as H.G. Wells's "The War of the Worlds" broadcast and Plato's recounting of Er's near-death experience. Colored text boxes and large photos and illustrations break up the pages. The books conclude with a bibliography, glossary, index, and list of websites. VERDICT Valuable research material for unusual topics.