Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs

March 9, 2009
Though not every mystery (the movement of lead coffins in the Chase vault, the identity of robber D.B. Cooper) is solved as promised, author Jack (Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day) does a remarkable job explaining a great many strange phenomena in this compulsive read. Tackling more than 30 mysteries big (the Bermuda Triangle) and small (a flat, straight stretch of autobahn that causes crashes), Jack gets right to the crux of the matter, exposing a great many hoaxes. That grainy, infamous video footage of Bigfoot? Fake. The equally grainy snapshot of a surfacing Loch Ness Monster? Most likely a bathing circus elephant. Crop circles? Less a hoax than an art form. Not everything can be traced to mischievous individuals with time to kill: the disappearance of big band leader Glenn Miller is now credited to friendly fire; the rational explanation for the disappearance of the Mary Celeste crew is just as satisfying as the numerous supernatural theories posited. Conspiracy theorists may be disappointed, but skeptics and armchair explorers will find this engrossing and witty, though probably all too short.

August 1, 2009
Adult/High School-Jack, author of "Red Herrings and White Elephants" (HarperCollins, 2006), branches out from explaining grammatical lore to exploring some of the most famous mysteries of the past 200 years. From Loch Ness monsters to Marilyn Monroe's apparent suicide, he covers a wide variety of topics, some with more detail and evidence than others (the origin of raining frogs takes up a mere page and a half, while Monroe's story occupies more than 10). The book makes for interesting, browsable readingstudents and teachers alike can pick up one story at a time. Jack offers a nice dose of quick nonfiction that would appeal to students, including reluctant readers."Sarah Krygier, Fairfield Civic Center Library, CA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2009
For those needing 10 minutes of reading refreshmentthe time limit Jack places on reading each of these 31 articlesthis lighthearted volume is prime. The open-ended legends Jack retells all have rational explanations, he says, despite their persistent status as pop-cultural mysteries. Jack plays up both mystery and reason in his presentations, seasoning them with sarcastic asides that should leave his audience chuckling at the relentlessness of believers in UFOs, antediluvian sea serpents, and Sasquatches. True-crime mavens are served by Jacks takes on the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and media mogul Robert Maxwell as well as the disappearance of airline hijacker D. B. Cooper. Higher-browed enigma-mongers can turn to discussions of the Mona Lisa, Edgar Allan Poe, and Agatha Christie. Armchair mariners should appreciate deflations of the Bermuda Triangle and the ghost ship Mary Celeste. Jack ranges widely and irreverently through the seas of ephemera, providing certain fun for the right kind of reader.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)