My Favorite Childhood Book

Did you know that my family was picked as "library family of the year" by our town's public library when I was growing up? We got to choose a book that would be dedicated to us and we chose The Phantom Tollbooth. But the book I actually checked out the most was the one pictured below. I got it everytime I went to the library, and then I would renew it as often as I could on top of that. Years ago I started looking for it on Amazon and eBay, but without any luck. I finally remembered to look again for it last month and it will be my newest, and one of my proudest additions to "the box" (for more on that, see my 9/11/08 post).



It's probably not the most comprehensive bestiary out there, but for a children's book it's awesome. I like the way it covers both folklore from around the world and modern science fiction in the same place. Before I heard of Tolkien or Universal Studios, I had read this book. It is what got me into mythology and monster movies. This book goes through the entire plots for Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman. When I saw the Monstrous Compendiums for Dungeons & Dragons, they immediately reminded me of this book and I wanted them all to add to my encyclopedic knowlege of useless trivia. Here's my A-Z index of the creatures contained therein:

Abominable Snowman (Tibetan)
Anubis (Egyptian)
Atheleni (British)
Banshees (British)
Basilisk/Cockatrice (British)
Blob (American)
Boobrie (British)
Buraq (Arabian)
Carcadann (Arabian)
Catoblepas (Ethiopian)
Centaurs (Greek)
Cerberus (Greek)
Cetus (Greek)
Chimera (Greek)
Cyclops (Greek)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (British)
Dr. Moreau (British)
Dragons (Universal)
Dwarfs (Germanic)
Echidna (Greek)
Elves (Germanic)
Fachan (British)
Frankenstein’s monster (British)
Goblins (British)
Golem (Hebrew)
Griffin (Arabian)
Hameh (Arabian)
Harpies (Greek)
Hydra (Greek)
Kelpie (British)
King Kong (American)
Kotos (Greek)
Kraken (Scandanavian)
Lamia (Greek)
Leprechauns (British)
Loch Ness Monster (British)
Manticore (Persian)
Martians (British)
Medusa (Greek)
Mermaids (Assyrian)
Minotaur (Greek)
Morlocks (British)
Mummies (Egyptian)
Nāga (Indian)
Newts (Czech)
Ogopogo (American)
Pegasus (Greek)
Phoenix (Egyptian)
Phooka (British)
Puck (British)
Questing Beast (British)
Robots (Czech)
Roc (Arabian)
Sahkmet (Egyptian)
Salamander (Hebrew)
Sasquatch (American)
Satyrs (Greek)
Scylla (Greek)
Sea Monk (Norse)
Sea Serpents (Universal)
Selenites (British)
Selkies (British)
Sphinx (Greek)
Tars Tarkas (American)
Tralfamadorians (American)
Triffids (British)
Trolls (Norse)
Unicorn (Hebrew)
Vampire (Universal)
Werewolf (Universal)
Yahoos (British)
Zombies (Caribbean)