I was obsessed with things like UFOs, Yetis and Spontaneous Human Combustion and used to sneak into my uncles' book collection to nab their books by folk like Erich Von Daniken and John Keel.
It's amazing how many nightmares reading those books caused - so it's a fantastic idea to bring those amazing real-life mysteries to life in a children's book.
Susan Martineau and Vicky Barker's "Real Life Mysteries: Can you explain the unexplained?" was an instant hit with us, as we returned from one of the most mysterious places in the UK.
Coming back from the shores of Loch Ness (and a lot of very unsuccessful attempts to spot Nessie) we devoured the section on mythical beasts of the deep (including Nessie herself of course), and also loved all the other sections covering topics as diverse as flying saucers and the Nazca Lines - all dished up with amazing illustrations and tons of facts, figures and history about how these phenomena first came to light.
Was quite tickled by the section on Spontaneous Human Combustion and the 'drawn' version of an image that was the very cause of childhood nightmares for me (a grisly disembodied foot belonging to a victim of SHC! EEEK!)
Charlotte, of course, growing up in an age where kids are naturally hugely sceptical of everything, and pretty much desensitized to everything too just batted her eyelids and moved on to the next page.
This is a great little book though, and B Small might be small - but they're becoming a mighty force to be reckoned with when it comes to publishing brilliant little books covering the most fascinating subjects.
Charlotte's best bit: Learning all about Nessie and the Lake Ogopogo creatures.
Daddy's favourite bit: Happy (!) childhood memories of being completely obsessed with all this sort of stuff thanks to magazines like "The Unexplained" and books like "Strange Creatures from Time and Space". Loved this!
"Real-Life Mysteries" by Susah Martineau and Vicky Barker is out today, published by B Small Publishing. (Kindly supplied for review).