Quirk Books Summer Boardwalk: The Sideshow

Take a break from the beach and visit the sideshow, featuring our titles with creatures both cute and strange! Let possums give you advice in When in Doubt, Play Dead: Life Advice from an Unexpected Source, discover which cryptid inhabits which US state in The United States of Cryptids, and more.

When in Doubt, Play Dead: Life Advice from an Unexpected Source

by Ally Burguieres

Featuring 70 watercolor illustrations, this totally adorable gift of a book offers wisdom and insight from a delightfully unexpected source: the opossum.

Learn to live your life the opossum way with advice including the following.

• The difference between a weed and a flower is often a matter of taste.
• It’s nobody’s business what’s in your pouch. Unless you’ve got snacks in there. In which case, you should share.
• A bit of risk is part of life. Cross that street, but ALWAYS look both ways beforehand.
• Smile! Unless someone tells you to, in which case you are well within your rights to scream.
• And more.

Written and illustrated by Ally Burguieres, creator of the popular Instagram account @ItsMeSesame, who spends her days as a wildlife rehabber caring for and learning from opossums, When in Doubt, Play Dead offers encouragement to embrace life’s weird, wild, and wonderful moments.

The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters

by J. W. Ocker

Meet the monsters in our midst, from bigfoot to Mothman and beyond!

Welcome to the United States of Cryptids, where mysterious monsters lurk in the dark forests, deep lakes, and sticky swamps of all fifty states. From the infamous Jersey Devil to the obscure Snallygaster, travel writer and chronicler of the strange J. W. Ocker uncovers the bizarre stories of these creatures and investigates the ways in which communities embrace and celebrate their local cryptids. Readers will learn about:

• Batsquatch of Washington, a winged bigfoot that is said to have emerged from the eruption of Mount Saint Helens
• Nain Rouge of Michigan, a fierce red goblin that has been spotted before every major city disaster in Detroit
• Flatwoods Monster of West Virginia, a robotic extraterrestrial that crash-landed in rural Appalachia
• Lizard Man of South Carolina, a reptilian mutant that attacked a teenager in the summer of 1988
• Glocester Ghoul of Rhode Island, a fire-breathing dragon that guards a hoard of pirate treasure
• And many more!

Whether you believe in bigfoot or not, this fully illustrated compendium is a fun, frightening, fascinating tour through American folklore and history, exploring the stories we tell about monsters and what those stories say about us.

We Are Not Alone: The Extraordinary History of UFOs and Aliens Invading Our Hopes, Fears, and Fantasies

by Marc Hartzman

Do you want to believe? Explore our fascination with UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence through exclusive interviews, archival photos, and strange but true stories from history.

After decades of cover-ups and denials, in a June 2021 report, the US government finally admitted what many people already knew: yes, UFOs are real, and no, we don’t know what (or who) they are. Writer and historian Marc Hartzman separates fact from fiction and provides a comprehensive tour through the skies, including:

• UFO sightings, from the famous to the obscure
• Alien abductions, including the Betty and Barney Hill abduction and the Pascagoula abduction
• Ancient aliens, from Biblical astronauts to the alien architects behind the pyramids
• Scientific evidence, including the “Wow!” radio signal and the interstellar ‘Oumuamua object
• Cover-ups and conspiracies, including the Roswell Incident and Area 51
• Governmental and military findings, from Project Blue Book to reports of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites

Deeply researched and highly entertaining, We Are Not Alone will inform and entertain anyone who’s ever doubted that we are really alone in the universe.

Take me back to the Quirk Books Boardwalk!