Ripley’s Believe It or Not!: Dare to Look!

Publisher: Ripley Publishing; Annual edition
Publication Date: September 2013
ISBN: 978-1609910778
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: August 28, 2013

Ewww!!! A band of 500 pumpkin zombies invading New York City’s Botanical Garden….Yum! A chocolate record...Weird! A dress made from fermented wine...Neat! The world’s longest hair extension is an amazing four soccer fields long! Yes, the folks at Ripley’s have done it again, producing another very enGROSSing book about the weird, strange, and fantastic that is guaranteed to keep young and old turning the pages to see what might pop up next.

This new edition is divided into twelve chapters covering all sorts of topics including Animals, Body, Digital, Art, Feats, Food, and my favorite, Beyond Belief. Pages are bright and jam-packed with photos, lists, and factoids. The vivid, eye-catching photos are definitely the stars of this book as so many of them grab the eye and while you might want to, you can’t look away. You have to look closer and read the accompanying descriptions to see if what you’re looking at is real.

Like last year’s edition, Download the Weird, this year’s book uses “OddScan,” an app for smartphones. Once downloaded, you can scan your phone over the various OddScan symbols throughout the book to see videos of some of the truly odd, weird, and funny stories. It’s fun, easy, and will keep you flipping through the pages of this new book for hours.

Quill says: Believe it or not, yes! There is new material, new excitement, and new, very cool things to learn in the newest edition of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!