Parents of a certain age will remember going to Spencer’s. It was the cool store where you could find those pop-culture items, Greg Brady beads, and blacklight posters. Spencer’s is still around, we have one at our local mall, but the teens we know don’t have as magical an impression as we did with it back in the day. To an extent, Magical Creatures and Mythical Beasts is a book that channels aspects of that black light magic. It’s an immersive seek-and-find illustrated book that looks at worldwide mythology, putting them on display using the UV flashlight it comes with.
The first thing you’ll notice about the book are the gold creatures that are on the front cover. You’ll know one or two of the creatures whose names you might not remember, but they’ll sure look familiar. The magic flashlight is real and illuminates the animals on the cover. Those within the light’s range are shown as full-bodied critters, while those outside of the beam of light are etched in gold.
What follows when you open the book is a Where’s Waldo type of adventure as readers follow Professor Byron Mortimer and his daughter as they’re traveling. The two are traipsing around the world looking at myths and legends in 18 countries. Her dad believes in these mythical creatures but has never seen them for himself.
It starts in Oxford, England, and continues to Northern Ireland where we see The Giant’s Causeway. It’s a series of 40,000 hexagonal stone columns at different heights that are on the coast and go out into the ocean. As they explore the coastal area they imagine the giants that might have used these steps for some ceremony or jumping-off point. There are also some paragraphs that talk about Finn McCool, who was an Irish giant who protected the country.
Now, take your flashlight and shine it on the two pages. The UV flashlight will show various things that the naked eye can’t see. While you’re able to see McCool and other things, Magical Creatures really takes flight when you take the book into a dark room.
When you do that you’ll be able to read the text, see the gargoyles in Paris, unicorns in Germany, griffins in Uzbekistan, yokai in Japan, mermaids in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and more. Reading in the dark is a fun exercise for children of a certain age. Magical Creatures and Mythical Beasts takes that mentality and runs with it.
The illustrations are by Victo Ngai, an award-winning illustrator from Hong Kong. Her art has a detailed, big-scale, mythic look that one would associate with vintage Asian prints. The final pages in the book introduce readers to over a dozen mythological creatures or figures that you’ll find in Magical Creatures. It’s done so via close-up pictures that are located on the bigger pages. It’s not the same as telling you where Waldo is, rather it tells you about the things.
Magical Creatures and Mythical Beasts is a great book for those curious kids who like mythology or want to spend free time enjoying new things. The obvious downside is that if you lose the UV light that comes with the book you won’t be able to fully enjoy it. Ironically, we have some UV flashlights for use around the house*. The book also costs $29.99 retail, however, look around and you can find it for $12 online. The book is loaded with quality and very well constructed, but that price point is going to put off some myth-curious people.
If you’re down with worldwide myths, want to see some fun things, and maybe have an extra UV flashlight around the house Magical Creatures and Mythical Beasts is a fun, interactive trip. Because of the flashlight and its small parts, the book is best for those readers aged eight and up. However, that age is still great to do some blanket, tent or darkroom reading.
Magical Creatures and Mythical Beasts is by Professor Byron & Mille Mortimer with illustrations by Victo Ngai and on Magic Cat Publishing, an imprint of Abrams Books.
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*They’re great to look for animal wildlife on the coast of lakes or the ocean at night.
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