World of Weird: A Creepy Compendium of True Stories - Tom Adams

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Author: Tom Adams

Illustrator: Celsius Pictor
Genre: Children's nonfiction
Rating: 4 stars.

An interesting compilation of dark and disturbing stories from the past. Not for the squeamish!

Think about all possible morbid and gruesome things/ideas from the past. There are murderous objects such as guillotines, weird processes such as mummification, strange inventions such as divining pencils, and even strange animals such as the blood-spurting lizard. You will find all this and a lot more in this book. The trivia isn’t limited to only the western world but spans the entire globe.

The format of the book is what gives it an edge over any typical collection of weird tales. It is posited as a set of manuscripts written by a famous explorer named Dr. McCreebor and now found in an old crate by his great granddaughter, Dr. Leila McCreebor. Thus the trivia is presented as if it is written on old notebooks, with Dr. Leila’s comments handwritten alongside. I liked the unique presentation, but I felt it was too well done. It seemed so authentic that children might believe the McCreebors to be real people. (Heck, even I am half-convinced they existed!)

All the facts in the book are neatly sectioned, with each set titled by a Latin name such as ‘artificialia’, ‘scelus et supplicium’ (crime and punishment), morteum (death), and so on. Though I have read many books on historical trivia, including the mind-blowing “Ripley’s Believe it or not”, I still found plenty of new content in this collection. I discovered new details about stuff I already knew, and I also learnt a lot about things I had never even heard of before (though I am sure I was better off not knowing a few of those disgusting facts!)

The official target age group for this book is 9-12 years, but I don’t think most of the facts would be suitable for that age range, especially for sensitive children. I feel it will work better with older teens. I read this along with my elder daughter, who happens to be in the right target age group for this title. While some of the details made me queasy, she remained unaffected and found the entire book “fascinating”. Oh well!

A book worth going for if you are interested in knowing more about the grisly and macabre past of humankind. This would make for a great Halloween gift as well.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions and NetGalley for the DRC of “World of Weird: A Creepy Compendium of True Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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