The Bigfoot Seek and Find series is more than its parts

Hey look it’s Bigfoot in a Where’s Waldo type book! That’s what I thought when I saw the cover to Bigfoot Goes on Vacation and Bigfoot Visits the Big Cities of the World by D. L. Miller. To a small extent that is correct. Each book takes a look certain places and what makes them special or unique in a real world way. We see real pictures of the farm, where someone might vacation, as well as the activities that actually happen on a farm. There is also some instructional text that tells about what happens there, interesting facts and lots of figures that kids can take away from it.

There are some big, 2-page spreads where young readers are invited to find Bigfoot, as well as, some of the things that people would actually find if they were to go to that place. For example they’re asked to find 9 diving barn swallows on the farm, 3 balloon sellers at the balloon festival, 6 beret-wearing tourists (in Paris) or 4 yellow Origami Cranes in Tokyo. In all of these pages you also have to find 1 Bigfoot, because he’s a world traveler who gets around, all without being seen or properly photographed.

Both books also start off with two pages of Bigfoot research. There’s a map where the big fella has been spotted, which surprising to me does not include Scandinavia. We see the classic Bigfoot image from frame 352 of the Patterson-Gimlin film that was taken in 1967 in Northern California. And readers also learn all of the other internationally known names such as the Skunk Ape in Florida, Gin-sung in China, Hibagon in Japan and others.

This is a fine case of don’t judge a book by its cover. On the cover you’ll see a magnifying glass with Bigfoot in the crosshairs while looking over each subject of the book. These books are not activity based find-it books where you’re simply looking for Bigfoot. Rather, they’re fun, education based books that will appeal to second graders and up-with a side of find-it Bigfoot.

The text is presented in easily consumable paragraphs that kids in second grade will be able to read. There might be some new words here and there, but they’ll be able to read them. Combine that with the fact there’s a variety of engage maps, pictures and humorous drawing and kids will have a very fun time engaging with these Bigfoot books.