Is It Real? The Loch Ness Monster

“You are an investigator for the Black Swan Scientific Investigation (BSSI) team,” Fleming (The Enigma Girls) declares in the opening chapter of this interactive foray into unraveling “the natural world’s greatest mysteries”—in this instance, the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Transitioning from a cheeky second-person POV through which readers receive their mission into fluid third-person reimaginings of historical events, portrayed as the audience’s “case file,” the author launches budding cryptid sleuths into their investigation. The provided information (“Case File: What Lurks in the Loch?”) features the history of the Loch Ness Monster and its purported sightings, as well as gathered evidence, including the footprints discovered by game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell and surgeon Robert Kenneth Wilson’s infamous photo of the creature. Subsequent sections detail later investigations of the legend between 1958 and 1970 using sonar equipment and DNA testing. Utilizing a handy BSSI Investigator’s Handbook—a critical thinking guide covering topics such as evidence, bias, and questionable witnesses, included via insets—the audience is encouraged to evaluate the case of the Loch Ness Monster. It’s a clever, attention-grabbing read that fosters critical thinking skills and scientific methodology. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)