Curiosities & Wonders
A World Full of Ghosts
Meet skeleton spirits in Alaska -- the Dancing Ahkiyyini -- and gliding ghosts overseas, like Japan's Legless Yurei. Witness groups of ghosts at Mexico's Day of the Dead and the solitary Ibambo on their own in Africa. Of course, each ghost has its own personality. Some like to stay up all night partying. Others, it is said, emerge from the spilled …
Excerpt
Mexico
The Day of the Dead
The cemetery is lit up with candles and torches. Picnic baskets overflow with delicious food, arches of bright marigolds tower over the gravestones, grinning toy skulls and skeletons are propped up against photographs of dead people. Children play tag and grown-ups laugh and sing. It's party time in the cemetery, Mexico's favorite holiday: Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.
On this one day of the year, death is something to laugh at and no one is afraid. People come to the cemetery to celebrate life and death with their favorite ghosts. The children eat sugar skulls and Bread of the Dead. The sounds of their merrymaking rise up and float in the air. The pain of death is forgotten and everyone is happy.
Animal Mysteries Revealed
Animal Mysteries Revealed explains why dolphins look like sharks but are actually related to sheep, why polar bear moms always give birth when they are asleep, what a crocodile death roll is, and which came firstâ”the chicken or the egg?
Are You Afraid Yet?
Want a good scare? Try reading about severed heads that blink, killer viruses that eat their human host, and real-life werewolves (just for starters)! Scared yet? That's okay - feeling scared is natural and useful. Want to know more about these and other fears? Pick up this one-of-a-kind book, an illustrated investigation into all the stuff that's …
Are You Psychic?
Imagine that you are sitting at your desk, doing your homework. All of a sudden, the image of a friend who you haven’t seen in a very long time pops into your mind. A few minutes later, the phone rings. Surprise! It’s that very same friend calling! Coincidence, or premonition? Author Helaine Becker pairs mysteries of the mind with the natural c …
