Creaturepedia: Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth

There are visual encyclopedia, there are animal picture books, and there are trivia books, but Creaturepedia combines all three in delightfully bug-eyed fashion. The art is vibrant, silly, and genuinely informative — I would call it a little Far Side-esque — and a great deal of thought clearly went into the presentation. (The imagery of the “high jumpers” being mostly out of frame is really clever.)

The creatures are divided up into all sorts of groupings — some by behavior, some by color, some by size, even some based on mythical origins — and these offer not only new associations for younger minds, but mix and match classic animals with lesser-known species.

Did you know that there’s a snake that pretends its tail is its head in order to fool attackers? Or that there’s a bird that moonwalks to attract a mate? (That never worked for me…)

And although the tone remains fun and lighthearted throughout, I must admit it was a little sobering to see the list of animals who’ve gone extinct in my lifetime.

Creaturepedia is an awesome resource and a great read for kids and adults alike.