Danger!

by Laura Buller, D.K. Publishing

In 'Danger!' you will encounter animals armed with sharp claws and killer jaws, deep-sea monsters, poisonous plants, and frogs falling from the sky, not to mention hapless, accident-prone humans you'd be unwise to hang out with.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2010

About the author

Laura Buller is an accomplished and knowledgeable author who has experience of both levelled reading schemes and children's nonfiction publishing.

Reviews

[Yuvaraj kothandaraman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danger! Danger! is a wild, colorful ride through the world’s most dangerous animals, places, disasters, and even some of the strangest moments in science and history. This book is packed with facts, comic strips, and eye-catching illustrations that make learning about danger both fun and a little bit scary.

The book is super engaging. Every page is full of bright colors, fun fonts, and cool drawings. It’s easy to flip through and find something interesting.
The topics are wide-ranging. You’ll read about killer animals, poisonous plants, natural disasters, space accidents, dangerous foods, and even bizarre jobs from history.
The comic strips and “real-life” survival stories are a highlight. They make the book feel alive and help you remember the facts.
The writing is simple and direct, so even younger readers or anyone new to these topics can understand.
There are lots of practical tips and warnings, like how to avoid animal attacks or what to do if you’re caught in a natural disaster.

What’s Not So Great:
Sometimes the book jumps quickly from one topic to another, which can feel a bit chaotic.
Some sections are a little too brief. You might want more detail about certain disasters or historical events.

Spoilers:

The book doesn’t just list dangerous animals - it tells real survival stories, like the tale of Rodney Fox, who survived a great white shark attack and later became a shark expert. There’s also the story of Juliane Koepcke, who survived a plane crash in the jungle and made it out alive after days alone, and Yossi Ghinsberg’s Amazon trek, which included maggot-infested wounds and a jaguar encounter. These stories are told in comic-strip style, making them memorable and sometimes shocking.
Disasters and Weird Science
There are sections on volcanoes, earthquakes, and wild weather, including the science behind why these things happen. The book also covers strange science experiments, like the story of scientists who experimented on themselves, and even the invention of dynamite and TNT. There’s a comic about Captain John Paul Stapp, who tested the limits of human endurance by strapping himself to rocket sleds.
The book lists some of the world’s most dangerous foods, like Japanese fugu (blowfish), maggot cheese, and live octopus. It also describes deadly jobs, from bomb disposal experts to crab fishers and even royal food tasters who risked being poisoned.
There are pages about infamous murderers, torture methods, and “mad monarchs” like Caligula and Vlad the Impaler. The book doesn’t shy away from the gruesome details, but presents them in a way that’s more fascinating than frightening.
Bizarre Festivals and Extreme Sports
You’ll learn about wild festivals like Spain’s running of the bulls, cheese-rolling in England, and water fights in Thailand. There are also sections on extreme sports, from wingsuit flying to bungee jumping, and the risks involved.


Final Thoughts
If you like books that are fast-paced, full of facts, and a little bit wild, you’ll enjoy Danger! Danger!. It’s perfect for curious kids, teens, or adults who want to learn about the world’s most dangerous things in a fun way. Just be ready for some gross, scary, or weird moments—this book doesn’t hold back!

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides an easy-to-understand explanation of all the dangers in the natural world, especially the threats to wild animals, bacteria, and electromagnetic waves.

Whether we get stung by a poisonous lizard or jellyfish or mauled by a black bear, we don't need to worry too much because the life cycle is always in balance.

For example, about shark attacks.
You might be playing in the ocean when a shark bites you on the leg and you lose one leg.

This is because sharks eat up everything in the ocean.
Sharks spend their last lifetime eating up all life.

And what happens at the end?

After the shark dies, that huge body sinks into the deep sea.
Then its body dissolves into small pieces.

And then, other fish and microorganisms start living by feeding on the shark's body.

This is how life is balanced in the ocean.
No life is wasted.

There are no real marvelous animals in this world, so it's okay.
May all living things be happy.

[Katlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could see this being a huge hit with boys aged 10-14. It includes facts, but it’s interesting enough that it doesn’t feel like a textbook. To me, it felt rather jumpy. Like there would be a blurb about a bunch of different topics. I think that’s intentional though, considering the target audience. My favourite features were the historical comics. They provided more background and were visual, yet informative. I feel like this book would lead to more reading overall, once an interesting topic was found. I personally want to look up Lizzie Borden the Iron Maiden (torture device, not the band), and killer whales (I had no clue that they are considered dolphins) and I’m not even in the target demographic! I would definitely recommend this book to tweens. 4/5

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

307 - 2021

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining and fun book that I would have adored as a child.

[Evan Macrone (Will Work For Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parasite Wuchereria bancrofti is a roundworm that is injected into your blood by a mosquito. They then travel to the lymph vessels and grow to an enormous size, blocking the vessel and causing elephantiasis in the leg.

Did that make you reel in disgust? Did it make you never want to go outside again, lest be infected by this parasite? Are you ready to gag or worse? Than maybe this book isn't for you. However, if this grabbed your interest for even a moment, or made you even a little bit curious about what else this book has in store for you, than read on.

Danger! is the perfect book for those who wish to succumb to pantophobia.

But seriously, though, this is a really engrossing read and contains some very interesting facts. Not all of them are particularly useful and most of the book is pretty silly and doesn't take itself too seriously.

However, some of the pages/facts are genuinely creepy, and more than once I was pretty grossed out, particularly by the page on parasites.

What makes this book so fun to read though, is that it is extremely creative when discussing dangerous topics. Each page is a different subject, and each section of the book encomppasses one big topic divided into smaller ones on each page. For instance, one of the sections is focused on Nature and Animals. One of the pages of that section primarily talks about the bloodsuckers of nature-Bedbugs, Ticks, Vampire Bats, etc. From there you can feel free to fill your mind with facts like this direct quote:

"Using its fangs to make a sharp incision, the (Vampire) bat applies saliva on the wound...to stop the blood from clotting. It then feasts ferociously for 20 minutes."

And what makes it unique is how each page is presented. You may find the facts listed in comic book fashion, or perhaps you're on the page about mountain climbing, and you see the ascending trail and the dangers listed as you go along. You will only really understand what I'm talking about if you see the book for yourself. Point is, the information in this book is not given to you like a textbook, or as a long, tedious clump of text that never seems to end. It is a fun book that achieves and surpasses its goal in a way that is easy to digest and very creative. If you see this book in your library, or in your local Barnes and Noble, pick it up and read. Just maybe not before you go to bed.

Although there is a page where they talk about what your nightmares mean.

And I'm giving this one a 7/10 and a 4/5.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danger is a very interesting book about many dangerous places and things in the world. For example, in the Bermuda Triangle there is a place called the horse latitudes where sailors would find themselves stranded without any wind to move them along their course. They are named the horse latitudes because these sailors would throw their horses overboard here to save water. Besides the Bermuda Triangle, the desert can be a dangerous place. Sand moving at high speed, as in a sandstorm, has been known to strip the paint off of cars and a scorpion’s stinger can be nasty too, but that stinger also glows in the dark!

This book has a little of everything from human body horrors to crazy stunts to history’s most dangerous periods. By the way, apparently you would not want to live in the Middle Ages from 400-1500 when over one third of Europe’s population died from the bubonic plague in the 1340s. This book also includes a number of real life horror stories told in graphic novel style format including the case of Typhoid Mary and the tale of Rodney Fox, a famous spear fisherman who was brutally attacked by a great white shark in 1963.

[Kelsey Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book for anybody that likes to live on the edge of danger. This is a book for those that like to explore all things dangerous. This book has facts regarding the spooky science, scary science, nature nasty and so much more. However, all these interesting facts are shown in a comic book style. With that being said, I decided to twin this book up with the graphic novel Lost Boy. Both these book have a darker side to them presented in comic book form. The main character, Nate, goes on an adventure to uncover the mystery behind the boy who went missing in this house previously. The Danger! gives just that same type of adventure feeling while uncovering the mystery some of the more dangerous things in life.

[Jill Pickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Danger!, turning the page is like stumbling across a new website; each is filled with freaky, petrifying factoids from science, nature, and history. Perfect for fact-seeking youngsters ages 8 to 12.

[Kate Hastings]

might go along with our danger/disaster book talk...

[Citra Maharani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best illustrated book ive ever read! Very similar with Do Not Open published by DK Publishing. Its so hard to find another book like this

[Marci - · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another GREAT Fantastic book from DK

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very appealing to junior high students. Has a format like Guinness book and a cool cut out cover.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book about all things dangerous. It will be a big hit with middle school boys.