Weird but True! Stupid Criminals: 150 Brainless Baddies Busted, Plus Wacky Facts

Weird but True! Topics

by National Geographic Kids, Tom Nick Cocotos (Illustrator)

Did you hear the one about the crook who broke into a vending machine and then left a trail of cheese curls all the way to his hideout? Or the burglar who left his wallet in an apartment he robbed, and actually went back to get it? Or how about the runaway criminal who got stuck in a drainpipe? Based on the successful "Stupid Criminals Busted!" column in National Geographic Kids magazine, this book is the newest extension of the blockbuster National Geographic Kids Weird But True franchise. This collection of chuckle-worthy stories about stupid criminals and the ridiculous ways they gave themselves away is illustrated with wacky collage art, and sprinkled with more than 150 weird-but-true facts about crime, including: funny laws; hilarious costumes criminals have worn while robbing banks; animal crimes and midemeanors; strange food crimes; great escapes; and more...

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Childrens

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2012

About the author

With more than 600 titles—including the popular Weird But True franchise and the New York Times Best Selling National Geographic Kids Almanac—National Geographic Kids Books is the recognized leader in nonfiction for kids. Published in 28 languages, NGK Books reaches approximately 85 million kids every year.

Offering K-12 educators resources that align to and support the Common Core State Standards, National Geographic has a long history of providing high-quality informational texts suitable for primary, upper elementary, and middle school English language arts, social studies, and science classrooms.

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book about some of the idiotic things that some less than brainiac criminals do to get themselves caught, some almost immediately after the crime they committed. Each double page spread had a paragraph about a stupid criminal action, a round circle with a factoid, and a strip along the bottom with a sentence or two about another stupid criminal. Several of the stories featured criminals who left their wallet, with ID, at the crime scene. One would-be bank robber wrote his "Give me all your money" note on the back of a bank check with his information on it. It also boggled my mind at how many home burglars decided to take a nap in the home they were burglarizing! And were caught when the homeowner came home. One criminal made his escape on a riding lawnmower, and another took a city bus. My husband and I had a good time laughing at these stories.

[Hannah TC · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was extremely funny and it made me laugh about the ways the criminals gave themselves away.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, people are stupid! Read this for some really hilarious, true stories of dumb stuff people do! The text is written as very short stories with kind of odd collage-style illustrations. This will be a good choice for reluctant readers.

[Daisy Liz wat'sswuppeepz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book because it's hilarious and my friends like reading this book. The author obviously called the criminals stupid because the criminals "ARE" stupid and I, too think there're stupid but otherwise, it's a great book and i recommend it to you :)

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great children’s book about extremely stupid criminals!

[Justin]

It was very humorous.

[Liam M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny book

[Miah · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a cool book 5-10 should read this

[Hayden Parrish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good

[Hadi Wijaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's interesting to know that some criminals, bulgars, crooks doing some stupid action in their crime which make them easily caught. It tells me in here that probably some of them is not coming from uneducated environment. Also in some cases they did the action in the middle of drunkeness and end up sleeping and get caught.

After all I enjoy reading this light book.

[Lavabearian (Jessica) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty young, but I think that middle schoolers will really like this. I will give this one to a middle school and try and get some feedback that way in order to determine my vote.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids would love this amusing collection of illustrated stories about stupid criminals and how they got caught. Lively photographs make this a good choice for reluctant readers.

[Murray5thgrade2015 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was so funny!
-captainamerica

[Emma Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a really funny type of story. i loved hearing about all of the wacky criminals. overall i LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Majdahalmazroei · Rating 4 out of 5]

People are so stupid especially criminals

[Logan Mcdonell]

good

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty funny on how stupid these criminals were and the facts were interesting!

[Saru (Queen of Bookland) · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOL I got laughs out of this book

[Samuel Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny

[Sfk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny!

[Corn-on-the-cob-span · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny.