Author Stephen Krensky has just the book for kids who love dragons and unicorns: this exhaustive compendium of magical creatures from around the world and across the centuries. You’ll find unicorns, dragons, mermaids, genies, phoenixes, fairies and the garden variety of mythical creatures, of course, but you’ll also be introduced to magical beings you probably have never heard of. The perfect gift for the magically minded.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, DK and DK Children in exchange for an honest review.

This book was ADORABLE. My 5 year old loved it, but as a fantasy loving mom, I love it too! It was so much fun flipping through the pages and reading this with my son. A very fun way to bond & I totally recommend this for parents to use as a tool to connect with their kids and bond over reading

The book gives the reader a brief look at magical creatures from a variety of cultures including crypoids like bigfoot or fairy tale creatures such as mermaids. With colorful illustrations, this book is a fun way to expose children to stories from a lot of different cultures.

My son absolutely loved this book. We had a great time discussing the different magical creatures, My little one felt very proud of himself for being able to pick out key sight words, as well as even sound out words that were previously unfamiliar to him in written form. This is a lovely, magical book and we will be rereading it together many times.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading Bedtime Book of Magical Creature. Has the ability to introduce young readers to a diverse range of mythical beings from different cultures. This not only broadens their understanding of global folklore but also fosters an appreciation for cultural diversity. As someone who has read many fantasy stories, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter creatures I had never heard of before, making the reading experience exciting and educational for both me and my kids.

The Bedtime Book of Magical Creatures, by Stephen Krensky is an adorable, and very thorough book about all types of mythical beings from different cultures. I like that next to each creature is a beautiful art rendering. I think this book will spark the imaginations of children and parents alike. The book gives parents the opportunity to make up little stories to go with their kids favorite characters. I think this is a beautiful volume that all children will enjoy, and I plan to by a copy.

This book offers a beautiful introduction to a world of mythical creatures that is fun for the whole family.

“The Bedtime Book of Magical Creatures,” by Stephen Krensky

This book was so adorable! The art was super cute and very colorful. Even being an adult had fun reading through this book. It had information that I didn’t even know like where the Kraken lore came from. It has lore from all over the world like Greek, China, Spain, Aztec, Egypt, Chiles, Japan, Scotland, Russian, Korea, Norway, etc. The stories range from folklore but also some lore from children’s books like the Cheshire cat. It is definitely a book worth buying a hard copy of and I will be reading it with my son. 5 out of 5 stars, so cute.

This book is so fun and informative. The illustrations and facts make it easy for kids to digest the information and stay entertained. There is so much diversity and culture to learn from this book. We homeschool so we like to read 3-5 pages with a different creature on each page at bedtime and talk about them the next day during lessons. I will be recommending it to a lot of my friends with kiddos.

Very cute children's book about all kinds of magical and mythical creatures. The illustrations are very cute and keep the kids engaged. The details are enough that the kids are having fun learning and talking about them but not too heavy or lore filled that they aren't interested. Definitely a fun book to add some magic into your routine

This book of mythical creatures is perfect for kids. It gives just enough information on the mythical and not so mythical creatures for kids to be interested in learning more. The illustrations are the right blend of bright and and not taking your attention away from the words. I would buy this for my grandson once he gets to that level of reading.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

This is a cute book. There are a lot of creatures listed, with enough facts to know the basics of each.

The creatures are organized by where they can be found, and then some similar ones are grouped together, which is nice, but then the order of the entries seems random- which is probably my only gripe with the book.

The Bedtime Book series by DK is a great alternative to linear bedtime stories. It's great for the little kids who want to know more and read non-fiction non-stop. I own the Dinosaur one and my toddler loves turning the pages to see the different colourful pictures.

Magical Creatures appealed to me right away. The illustrations were enchanting and ethereal. I love that there are ways to connect this book to classic children's fantasy like Harry Potter or the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as well as to tales from across the globe. Reading the short and accessible introductions to the creatures lets the reader see the difference and similarities between them. I'd recommend it to any fantasy loving parent or child.

Thank you, DK Children, for providing me with an advanced reader's copy.

I grew up on the DK Eyewitness series, so when I saw a mythical creature encyclopedia, I had to request an ARC. I’m so thrilled that I got it. This is an excellent primer for a kid. It features beautiful illustrations for every entry and covers creatures and beings from every corner of the world. Even with a more than passing interest in and knowledge of mythology and folklore, I still learned about new creatures reading this book, so it’s fun for the whole family. I would say however that the definition of creature seemed a bit loose, including humanoid beings and some deities rather than animals. The scope is also huge, and the creatures origins range from mythology, folklore, literature, and even includes some modern cryptids. The book also does not shy away from creatures that are not typically benevolent. Tricksters and dark magic users exist alongside folk heroes and lucky or helpful creatures. A great way to generate interest in the topic, and encourage kids to learn the stories of all of these creatures.

To say that I was excited about being approved for this book would be an understatement. My daughter and I love DK books, especially those featuring mythical creatures. I was able to share this with not only my 8 year old daughter but my 3 year old son as well. The stories are bite-sized and easy to read as bedtime tales. Some of the featured stories were familiar to us (like I said, we have a bunch of DK books about mythical creatures) and some were new. It was a joy to read this collection to my kiddos, and I would certainly recommend it to parents and educators of children ages 3-9. This book, and any subsequent installments of this series will definitely grace our bookshelves in print edition.

Thank you for the eARC, it was a delight!

We have had so much reading about different magical creatures over the last couple of nights! I want this cute book in physical to pick up with my little as he starts to understand mythology a bit more!

Kids with imagination will like looking at this title which can be read in order or enjoyed by looking at pages randomly. The illustrations are vibrant and engaging. The text is very readable.

Here are magical creatures from the land, water and air. There are many in these pages including a faun, a unicorn, a werewolf, Cyclops, troll, Jormungandr, selkie and the list goes on. I think that adults will be surprised by how much they may learn as well.

Many thanks to DK Children and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own

This is a great little book to introduce to children to the age of twelve. I suppose older students could use it and do more research on various mythological creatures. I liked the little snippets of information as it promoted a curiosity to learn more about the amazing creatures, many of which I had never heard about. I also liked where their origin was from. Gives opportunity to learn about the geographical locations.
As a person who loves mythology and loves to learn about creatures such as those from the show Grimm, Harry Potter and the movie Fantastic Beasts, I would embrace an opportunity to experience them in real life.
Questions? Was this book tailored for a younger crowd. Of course it was. Were the depictions more childlike? Yes and so perfect and colorful. Was information minimalistic? Yes, children cannot retain a large amount of information, so the small snippets was just enough. Additionally, it leads to further discussion and research.
Overall, this is a perfect book to introduce to kids who find the fantasy world intriguing and alluring to their creative minds.

This is a really cute book for kids to learn more about mythology, cultures, and some pretty cool monsters! I really like that the book is sectioned into 3, Land, Water, and Air creatures. I can't figure out how the creatures in these sections are organized. It isn't by geography, physiology, or alphabetically. That might be the only change I would make to allow the books to flow a little better. I will definitely be asking my cataloguer to purchase this, and will be recommending it to many of our patrons!

I am giving this 4 stars because I am not the intended audience.

I think I might have too high of a standard for childrens books, but in my opinion books for children do not need to sound like they were written by children.
I was excited by the idea of this book, but the execution was a bit haphazard. It read a bit like a 2nd grade book report. There wasn't much organization or structure, and the tone was immature. (I know it's for little kids, but see my point above.)

Also, the mythological research was a bit lacking as there were some glaring errors. (The unicorn, for example)