The Bookworm Sez
By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare!
c.2010, Ripley Publishing
$28.95/$32.95 Canada
256 pages, includes index

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 theatre, 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 cool.

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 more than 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 foldout of a 16-year-old Nepalese girl who’s under two feet tall.

Are you good at sports? Then try besting the boy who did  more than 50 chin-ups in a minute’s time. You can try to be a Human Ice Cube or live underwater.

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, Wash.; 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 schoolwork 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 okay. 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.

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books. Readers with questions or comments may write to her in care of this publication.