Jon Scieszka (Guys Read: Funny Business) rounds up a star-studded group of children's and teen authors who have produced what he calls "the wildest mix of detectives, spooks, cryptids, snakes, pirates, smugglers, a body on the tracks, and one terribly powerful serving of fried pudding." He is not kidding. When his friend Jeremy disappears, "Nate Macavoy, Monster Hunter" sets off to rescue him from monstrous cryptids in a fantastic tale that only the irrepressible Bruce Hale could carry off. In Gennifer Choldenko's noir story "The Snake Mafia," two boys search for their missing father who left a note saying, "Don't Call the Police. Dad." And that's just two of 10 in an all-star cast of authors. Brett Helquist's goosepimply pictures enhance the stories' appeal in this handsome book, with comfortingly large text and plenty of white space to bolster even newly independent readers' confidence. --Ellen Loughran, adjunct professor, Pratt Institute