Monsters are a total treat for kids. They turn up in stories and fairy tales all over the world, give kids thrilling yet safe shivers, help them work out real fears and anxieties, and empower them in the same way that dinosaurs do, inhabiting the kind of world that’s special in part because grown-ups are too busy and boring to pay attention to it. The Big Book of Monsters revels in this magic appeal and delivers an unparalleled compendium of 25 of the creepiest, the spookiest, the most wicked and dreadful creatures found in classic literature.

It’s a who’s who of the baddest of the bad, from those paradigms of literary terror, Dracula and Frankenstein; to the creatures of myth, both Western - like Polyphemus, the human-devouring one-eyed Cyclops of Homer - and not, like the Japanese Goblin-Spider; to witches, werewolves, golems, spirits, and scary human anomalies including the Headless Horseman, Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, and Rappaccini’s daughter, the poisonous maiden of Padua. Every monster is brought to life first in a full-size, full-colour portrait that captures the essence of the beast, and in lively text that recounts the story, highlights the gruesome details, and rates each monster on the Scare-o-Meter. Sidebars explore the source texts, giving readers a genuinely exciting introduction to literary genres and history, and making this book especially valuable for reluctant readers.