I enjoyed Chasing American Monsters: Over 250 Creatures, Cryptids & Hairy Beasts. It was a quick read and, of course, I started in my home state where I am familiar with our “monsters”; and, I had just told the story of the Bunny Man earlier that day. Of course, my story was a bit different but that happens with folklore. What was missing for me were the citations. For example, in the Virginia section under “Giant Birds” I was excited to see my hometown of New Kent mentioned. “A witness reported seeing an enormous bird standing in the middle of the highway.” But that’s all that I receive? Not a mention of sources or even which highway? I want something a bit more in-depth. It was an interesting read but it left me with more questions than a resource book of this kind should. If it were marketed to younger readers, I might be able to overlook this but probably not.

I'm so disappointed in this book, and I'm not even sure if it's fair for me to be this disappointed, but here we are. I love cryptid stories and literally spent countless late nights as a kid/teen (okay, who am I kidding, I'm 26 and it still happens frequently) digging through cryptid forums and sites and blog posts, devouring any stories I could find. Even if the stories took place thousands of miles away from me, it didn't stop me from loving them (though my favorites, of course, are the ones that took place in my home state of Georgia or surrounding states).

All of that said, as you can imagine, I was super excited to read this, but it wasn't what I expected at all. It's broken up by states, which was a cool formatting, but each state only has an illustration of one of its cryptids, and... honestly, I'm not convinced some of those illustrations weren't traced over old Neopets designs. Sorry.

Artwork aside, instead of giving history on established cryptids that a lot of people actually believe in, most of these were nonsense (one of the Georgia cryptids' sections claims that it's a widely held belief in this particular area, and having lived very near that region as a kid and knowing a ton of people from the town? No, it's not). Half of the stories given were basically just like, "This ONE PERSON in *insert year* claimed they saw this and now everyone believes it!" and, frankly, that's not how cryptid stories work from my experience. Maybe Offutt's circles run a little differently, but ask anyone in mine, and we'll all agree that a cryptid story isn't fun until there are enough corroborating stories to make it plausible.

Sigh. I didn't mean for this review to become a rant. I'm sure the author is a great person who thought they'd write something really fun and kooky, but the delivery wasn't there for me at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

First off, despite the reasonably low rating of three for me, I did enjoy this book. I just thought that by going state by state and essentially repeating stories about the same kind of cryptoid, that it had worn thin long before I finished. Bigfoot-again. Pterodactyls- again. Sea serpents/lake monsters- again. I also felt that by starting each chapter with a history of each state was boring- I'm Australian, so I learned bucketloads about America- most of which I instantly forgot because there was too much to remember. I will remember that the Colonel wasn't born in Kentuckey every time I eat KFC though.

However, SOME of the monster stories were interesting, and kept me reading. Mostly they could have been more detailed, which was probably why I didn't like any of the information outside of them- I wanted more monsters and less celebrities. I should add that as a Kindle book this one doesn't really work- the writing is spread over pages awkwardly, the pictures don't always line up and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40334133-chasing-american-monstersI think the information would be better presented in a physical book that you can switch back between the states with better ease.

Three stars- A good concept, just not as well presented as it might have been.

Chasing American Monsters: Creatures, Cryptids and Hairy Beasts by Jason Offutt was received direct from the publisher. American monsters, such as Bigfoot, have intrigued me since childhood. I remember overhearing adults spreading rumors about a friend of a friends cousins aunt seeing a big hairy creature cross the road with a dog/pig/whatever in its mouth. This sounds like someone combined two Momo stories together. I have since travelled the world not as a tourist and I have never seen any of these creatures. This author manages to cover many types of so called monsters and he does it while not boring the reader. Buy this book for your family and buy a copy for whomever you buy gifts for, look up your state, their state, every state and make a drinking game of it, or just read for your enjoyment.

5 stars

Every chapter of this book is a different state, first it gives just a wee bit of info about that state and then it jumps right into the monsters that have been seen along with stories from those who have seen these monsters. It's a pretty fun to read book and I enjoyed it but honestly, I just wanted to know about the states I've lived in or just ones that are important to me. Still, it was fun learning about other monsters in other states.

It's written in a way that is so easy to understand and at times had be chuckling because the author has one of those voices that is just funny in the best way. Made the book even better in my opinion. Not going to lie, my favorite is the Mothman, I've been interested in him for about ten years now and anything about him just catches my attention instantly.

A fun book to read, I enjoyed it and even learned about quite a few monsters.

Will go live on the blog: 2/2/2019

This book was fantastic! I loved learning all about all the (alleged) mythical creatures out there! Looking forward to more!

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Chasing American Monsters.

I was really excited to read this, being an X-Files and paranormal fan of the odd, strange and unusual.

There were parts of this book I really enjoyed, mostly the way the author had all the beasts and creepy crawlies organized by state.

I also very much liked the interesting factoids and trivia about the state as we went down the map.

After awhile, it all got repetitive, which is not surprising since most of these state have an abundance of similar urban myths and legends, namely:

Bigfoot
Plenty of Nessie wannabes
Werewolves
Huge ass birds
Pterosaurs - lots of these hanging around the South and Midwest, apparently

Also, I would have liked more background on some of these sightings, which I understand would require more research and data and the book would have been much longer.

After awhile, all the monsters began to blur together and sounded like an overview the author could have compiled from a search on Google.

Not a bad read, but I would have preferred more details and/or historical context.

A neat encyclopedic listing of cryptids and creepy critters of all shapes and sizes. Blew threw this book pretty quickly; it's a straight-forward, dry kind-of read. Every U.S. state is entered here with their very own cryptids, and I found the names and even the people who reported the sightings, to be just as bizarre and interesting as the creatures themselves. It lacked photos, which forces your imagination to compensate for that, which ain't a bad thing. There were, though, well-drawn black and white renderings of what some cyptids may have looked like - some of my favorites were: the blackwoods monster, chupacabra, the white screamer, jersey devil, the st. augustine monster - all of it physiologically impossible and outrageous and pages of fun.

Jason Offutt has put together a very fun an entertaining collection of stories about monsters. It was a nice read that brought back memories of stories told as I few up. The style is friendly, easy to read and enjoyable.

I would have liked to see more detail and maybe some additional references to look deeper into some of the stories. But as a lite read on a cold evening this was a lot of fun.

I recommend this for anyone who loves monsters.

From Alabama to Wyoming and every state in between, the United States is crawling with monsters lurking in the dark corners, just waiting for the right moment to scare the pants off unsuspecting victims. This eye opening book is a state by state guide to monsters, myths, crytids, and things that go bump in the night. Discover Connecticut’s Black Dog Of Hanging Hills, The Tommyknockers Of Pennsylvania, The Banshee Of The South Dakota Badlands,and hundreds of other fearful figures, with more then 250 creatures covering everything from modern day dinosaurs and dragons to extraterrestrial lizard men, gnomes, and more, Chasing American Monsters brings you face to face with the unique beasts that hide in the shadows, of each of the fifty states.

I don't know if I hide it well or not, but for a while I've been really interested in cryptids and monsters like Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, Chupacabra, and even a few in my state of Wisconsin. When I saw a book basically dedicated to these monsters, I was ecstatic. I was slightly concerned that the voice might make the book dry and hard to get through, but I was proven wrong nearly immediately. 

The novel starts off with an opening written by someone I've never heard of. No offense to this person, but I really couldn't care less about what they were saying, because it was basically "Jason Offutt is amazing and put in a lot of research into this book" and honestly, I just wanted to get to the monsters. But I have to admit--whoever opened this book wasn't joking. Jason Offutt but a lot of time and effort into this book, thoroughly examining each legend and story and shortening them before putting them into their place in this book. Not only that, but the way Jason narrated these stories kept me so engrossed that I was reading this book long into the night. Jason's voice is so dynamic and entertaining, I didn't feel like I was reading a non-fiction book at all.

Jason's research was over the top. He got really detailed and talked about the original, dated stories, as well as more recent sighting and stories. It was really interesting to see how each story was approached differently and uniquely, and Jason even joked around, and I was laughing while learning about American monsters.

Each chapter of each state is separated by an illustration of a specific monster mentioned in the upcoming chapter. These illustrations were amazing, and I found myself studying them before reading, or even going back and forth between the illustration and the chapter. They enhanced the stories so much, giving life to what Jason was telling us. There were a few where I didn't agree with how they were drawn (mostly just the stories I was familiar with) but I loved the illustrations so much that I didn't care about that.

Final Rating: ★★★★☆
Overall?
This book was one of the best non-fiction books I've read. It was so interesting and engaging, yet so informative. I had so much fun reading this book. I will say that it didn't get five stars because it just really didn't blow me away. I had a lot of fun reading this book, and I'll be recommending it to people, but it wasn't shocking or thrilling. Just fun and entertaining.

Would I Recommend?
I kind of answered this before, but definitely. If you're interested in cryptids and monsters, this is the book for you. For a few chapters, some alien stories are even featured, and it was a lot of fun.

Thanks to Hunter Shea I've been reading more cryptid books this year and have been scouring both Kindle Unlimited and NetGalley for anything I could find. This is a NetGalley find and I've enjoyed it hugely!

Each chapter is one of the states in the good old U, S of A and has some 'monsters of note' who reside in said state like the Chupacabra, The Jersey Devil (in Jersey if you can believe it!) and a surprising amount of Bigfoots, Bigfeet? whatever the plural of Bigfoot is anyway, there's a load of 'em walking around all hairy and massive just doin' their thing.

There's also werewolves and a few creepy gnome things seemingly having the time of their lives attacking people.

I really enjoyed this, took my time with it over about a month as I wanted it to last and it's given me more ideas on cryptid and creature books for 2019. Cheers for that Jason!!

Will definitely be picking up mire books by this author in the near future.

*Huge thanks to Jason Offutt, Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd and NetGalley for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

This is fun. really interesting and entertaining, definitely recommend to anyone who is interested in the not real but maybe could be real

Wow! This book was so much fun! I love cryptozoology, and I always am down for a good book about it! I thought this was great source for people like me or anyone just interested in “monsters” in their state!

Listing the states in alphabetical order and certifying that you're terrible at remembering all of the states in that manner, Offutt has arranged a breezy read that references (notable?) legendary monsters and the like, assigning a chapter to each state. The book is quite inclusive in its variety of unnatural wonders, spanning from banshees to pig-monsters to even just bones of unique creatures, but you'll also find, as pointed out by the author, that there's a peculiar amount of consistency in some types (your Bigfoot/Bigfeet and water serpents are quite numerous). It's interesting to see what legends you're familiar with, as opposed to what Offutt's dug up.

The book does have some things that got me wondering: Some entries were so bare-bones that I was curious as to why one would include them at all, presuming that Offutt had to make some editorial choices (and taking into account that creatures of folklore in the US are a-plenty); there are entries that I'd consider more of a "peculiarity" than anything, like the guy in the bunny suit terrorizing people, or the Drunk Bears---I wasn't sure why they made the list.

Each chapter houses a neat drawing of a selected creature from each state. A neat improvement would be for a drawing to accompany *each* entry. You do that and then give it to a kid with a thirst for folklore? That book'll get read until it's worn out.

As a TN native, I literally knew none of the entries for my state. Just wanted to put that out there.

If the cover and book description appeals to you, then you're likely to be satisfied. The book truly is what it says it is; it's not exhaustively detailed, which some might balk at, but I can see younger readers latching onto it and it sparking a love for the weird things that live where we don't dare go.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Llewellyn Publications for the advance read.

An interesting collection of American monsters. Our patrons will love looking through the pictures and reading the stories.

Every state in the USA has some sort of infamous monster or creepy creature we whisper around when trying to frighten each other. In the new book by Jason Offutt, Chasing American Monsters, readers get a guidebook to the weirdness in their state. Every want to know about the Donkey Lady in Texas? What about the Pope Lick monster in Kentucky?  With this guidebook all you need is some courage and a willingness to explore.

Be advised that most states have some sort of mention about Bigfoot, as he's one of the most prolific creatures in American lore. Offutt's writing is conversational and fun. The only thing I would have loved to see was more drawings to match all the entries.

Chasing American Monsters is available March 8, 2019 from Llewellyn Publishers.

I dig the cover. A lot. It kind of has this old-fashioned vibe to it, with the goldish cover. I am a sucker for a good cover, and totally judge books by them. I can't help it.

The issue with books like this is that they are basically encyclopedias and those can get very repetitive to read. As such, this is not something you would necessarily pick up and read straight through (which is what I did). This does not make it a bad book by any means, I really loved some of these weirdo, creepy beasts that I had never heard of before. But, it does get a case of samesies when you find out that almost every state has a record of Bigfoot sightings. I won't tell you which one(s) don't though, you'll have to read and find out for yourself.

I enjoyed the author's intro as he delved a bit into the idea of monsters and why they fascinate us so - essentially, why we NEED monsters and continue to pass these legends on to subsequent generations. From there the book is divided into fifty chapters, one for each state. The state gets a brief introduction (truth be told, this isn't really necessary. I would much rather have had additional information about some of these creatures, but this could be my personal preference. I suppose it would be helpful for someone reading the book who is not from the US). Even so, there were tons of creatures I would have liked to have seen explored further, but the problem may just be that there is not enough information. Perhaps those should have been left out altogether then? I'm not sure what I would prefer. If further text was cut to make room for those shorter ones, or the repetitive ones, that would definitely be a possible change to make before the final product is published. Using Bigfoot as an example again, I feel like seeing as how nearly every state has had Bigfoot sightings, a chapter could have focused on looking at monsters common across multiple states. This would have saved some of the repetition, as I did find myself skimming over those after I hit the 50% mark.

Some of the these monsters are downright creepy, and others just plain silly. I found it particularly interesting that one of the monsters has been caught, killed, stuffed, and mounted - but I'm not going to tell you which one in that regard though, either. I really liked the sketches that accompanied each chapter; it would have been cool to have more illustrations included whenever possible.

This was a really fun look at some seriously weird creatures that may or may not exist. The author comes down on the side of believing that yes, there is something to all of these sightings. He uses Nessie as an example, that just because one time turned out to be a hoax, that doesn't mean the other hundreds or thousands of sightings are hoaxes too. Fun fact: I've been on a cruise on Loch Ness and it was absolutely beautiful. If I have not said it before (and I know I have, because I am loud and proud about it): I LOVE SCOTLAND. In fact, I love it so much, and Edinburgh especially, that I spelled my daughter's middle name Edin instead of Eden. And the only reason I thought to use Edin was because naming a child Eleanor Edinburgh was kind of mean). On my blog post for this review, you can see a few pictures I included from my family trip to Scotland. Loch Ness is beautiful.

I would definitely be interested in this book for my classroom. I have a couple boys who are reluctant readers but would absolutely LOVE reading about all the beasties offered up for perusal.

Thanks to Llewellyn Worldwide and Netgalley for the Advance Reading Copy.

This is a jaunty and fun whistle stop tour of the weird and wonderful monsters of the United States. The book goes through the States alphabetically, listing the various monsters that are reputed to exist. Some are surprisingly contemporary whilst others are tales of the past. The descriptions are short (too short for the most part) so this book would work well to dip in and out of. I also loved the vintage-y looking cover, i'm a real sucker for books that have these kinds of covers so i'd definitely look at it in a bookstore.

You’ve got your more well-known cryptids such as the Jersey Devil and the Wendigo as well as some truly bizarre creatures such as the Iliamna Lake Monster, a creature with the head of a wolf and the body of an orca. The diverse range of creatures included makes for an interesting and entertaining read.

My only real criticism is that most of the monster descriptions are just far too short. It might have been better to sacrifice some of the more samey monsters (the Loch Ness monster rip offs, Big Foots) to expand the information on the more unusual or well-known creatures. Also, the famous people from each state part was a little repetitive and unnecessary. I wanted more information on monsters, not to know what state Hulk Hogan was from.

Overall this is a fun book and would make a great gift for someone interested in cryptozoology or as a starter to whet your appetite if you love all things monstrous.

State by state account of cryptid creatures. I love reading about these elusive creatures. i'm not sure if any exist, but I am sure they may well be a few that are real, but no one has caught yet! I do enjoy reading about them and often look for books or websites to learn more about them. The reason I believe some of these creatures may exist is that so many animals we take for granted were considered myths until someone captured one (gorillas come to mind!). So somewhere out there some of these may well exist. Entertaining and thought provoking book.