Reviews
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REVIEW FROM PITTSBURGHLIVE Ripley's Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare Fact-filled 'Ripley's book is fun for kids of all ages. By Terri Schlichenmeyer, FOR THE LEADER TIMES You figured you could handle it. It was supposed to be the scariest movie ever. Ever, and you couldn't wait to see it. Really, you're a big kid and it couldn't be that bad ... But walking out of the theater, you were shaking, weak-kneed, and hoarse from screaming. There were parts of the movie you couldn't even watch, it was so scary. It gave you nightmares, for sure. And it was sooo cooool. Now that you're back to Earth and sleeping again, are you ready for more thrills? Then grab a copy of "Ripley's Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare!" It's not quite as scary as that movie, but it's 20 times cooler. What did other kids do with their summer vacations? Check it out: a kid in Germany climbs walls by using darts as hand-holds. A girl in Hawaii wins surfing championships despite having lost both arms to a shark. In India, they play polo atop elephants. If you're an animal lover, you'll love this: there's a picture here of a hippo attacking an alligator. There are pictures of a spider killing a bird; a snake biting his own tail; a tiny pony; and a giant spotted, fanged kitty-cat. You can also learn how to keep wolves from your bedroom door by reading this book. Do you have pierced ears? Then you might shudder at the picture of the man with over 150 piercings on his face and neck. Or maybe someone at school has called you a "shrimp". If that's the case, you'll like seeing the life-size fold-out of a 16-year-old Nepalese girl who's less than two feet tall! Are you good at sports? Then try besting the boy who did over 50 chin-ups in a minutes' time. You can try to be a Human Ice Cube or live underwater. And if that kind of action isn't to your liking, learn what Dan Akroyd and Ashton Kutcher have in common; how the Ripley folks make mannequins; why you should never hurt a Sasquatch in Skamania County, Washington; how to eat balut (If You Dare!); or why NASA once made butt molds for astronauts. You know what it's like to go back to work after a long vacation, and it's not easy. So ease your kids back into their school work by giving them this fun-to-read, eye-popping, fact-filled book. "Ripley's Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare!" is one of those books that kids can nibble here, sample there, and enjoy while they're secretly learning. It's filled with pictures, oddities from Ripley's archives, animal weirdness, and strange things they love reading about. And if you grab it to browse or if the kids want to share something with Grandpa, that's OK. It's the same Ripley's brand that you remember from when you were a kid. Meant for teens-and-up, I think an 11-year-old "good reader" would have no problem enjoying "Ripley's Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare!" If your kids are in need of back-to-school practice, here's a book they can handle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REVIEW FROM SHOOTING STARS Ripley's Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare Review: Most people should know what these books are about as a new one seems to come out every year. But a quick update is that it's a collection of amazing feats, artwork, stories, and more that they package up in a nice book for all to enjoy with bright colored photos! To start off on the negative side, I hate photos of spiders. They give me the chills and I want to throw the book. So I tended to stay away from some of the beginning sections as it deals with all sorts of creepy crawly things. Besides that though, I enjoy the Ripley books. You learn all sorts of amazing and interesting facts. For example, one of the smallest teens in the world is Jyoti Am
