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Real-Life Mysteries & Disasters: Deadly Facts, Amazing Evidence, and the True Stories Behind 22 Incredible Events
96 pages, Hardcover
Published November 4, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 2, 2025
Copy provided by the publisher
Have readers who can't get enough Titanic books? Some who love Hopkinson's Scholastic Focus Deadliest titles or fiction like Tarshis' I Survived series, Marino's Escape from the U.S.S. Indianapolis, Philbrick's Wild Wave, or Johnson's Survivor Diaries? This is the book for them!
There are twenty two different mysteries and disasters, and each once has an overview of one specific incident (like Bigfoot or the Bermuda Triangle) where the location, time period, and basics are covered thoroughly. This is followed by a case file in a fun scrapbook format that discusses what evidence is available, lists witness statements, has applicable maps, and has a box that encourages further investigations. I enjoyed that fact that there were definitions of words, assessments of witness reliability, and descriptions of similar cases, especially in cases of "unidentified weird lights" which are often thought to be UFOs. My favorite was probably the descriptions of spontaneous combustion; it never seemed all that possible to mek but looking at the scientific evidence, now I'm not so sure!
It is also helpful that each of the sections starts with a helpful overview of how the pages are going to be set up. Many of my students struggle with processing nonfiction text, and this would be a great book for navigating a mix of pictures, text, and sidebars. Because of the interesting aspects of the mysteries and disasters, reading this book wouldn't feel like work.
There is a helpful table of contents and a glossary of words at the back that readers will find useful.
This reminded me of some National Geographic books or Lonley Planet nonfiction titles. The illustrations are great, but it wouldn't have hurt to include a photograph or two. I know that it's often more expensive to do this, and readers today are keen to look things up online.
I'm always a fan of having books like this along on car trips. Real-Life Mysteries & Disasters is packed with information and would definitely take a couple of Midwestern states to finish. I get too car sick to read, but my brother was always a big fan of the Guiness Book of World Records and would quote passages while my parents are driving. This always led to some good family conversations, and I think that a topic like Bigfoot or the Halifax explosion could make the time on the road fly by.
Have readers who can't get enough Titanic books? Some who love Hopkinson's Scholastic Focus Deadliest titles or fiction like Tarshis' I Survived series, Marino's Escape from the U.S.S. Indianapolis, Philbrick's Wild Wave, or Johnson's Survivor Diaries? This is the book for them!
There are twenty two different mysteries and disasters, and each once has an overview of one specific incident (like Bigfoot or the Bermuda Triangle) where the location, time period, and basics are covered thoroughly. This is followed by a case file in a fun scrapbook format that discusses what evidence is available, lists witness statements, has applicable maps, and has a box that encourages further investigations. I enjoyed that fact that there were definitions of words, assessments of witness reliability, and descriptions of similar cases, especially in cases of "unidentified weird lights" which are often thought to be UFOs. My favorite was probably the descriptions of spontaneous combustion; it never seemed all that possible to mek but looking at the scientific evidence, now I'm not so sure!
It is also helpful that each of the sections starts with a helpful overview of how the pages are going to be set up. Many of my students struggle with processing nonfiction text, and this would be a great book for navigating a mix of pictures, text, and sidebars. Because of the interesting aspects of the mysteries and disasters, reading this book wouldn't feel like work.
There is a helpful table of contents and a glossary of words at the back that readers will find useful.
This reminded me of some National Geographic books or Lonley Planet nonfiction titles. The illustrations are great, but it wouldn't have hurt to include a photograph or two. I know that it's often more expensive to do this, and readers today are keen to look things up online.
I'm always a fan of having books like this along on car trips. Real-Life Mysteries & Disasters is packed with information and would definitely take a couple of Midwestern states to finish. I get too car sick to read, but my brother was always a big fan of the Guiness Book of World Records and would quote passages while my parents are driving. This always led to some good family conversations, and I think that a topic like Bigfoot or the Halifax explosion could make the time on the road fly by.
Displaying 1 of 1 review