TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE- IT'S ALIVE! by Ammi-Joan Paquette

This is a super fun book nonfiction book, but also, maybe a really important book in this time of "fake news."

The book is divided into nine chapters, e.g. Crazy Plants, Creepy Plants and Fungi, Small, Medium, and Large Animals, and Humans. Each chapter has three really weird story/articles, accompanied by photographs, maps, diagrams, and all of the features you'd expect in a terrific nonfiction book. "Small Animals," for example, includes a story about the African threadsnake, an animal that lives inside of the ear canal of African wild dogs. There's also a section about the Chelifer cancroides, a microscopic arachnid that lives on dust mites, beetle larvae and book lice, a creature that lives on the starchy glue of book bindings. And there's a section on the common European limpet. Their teeth are the strongest biological material ever discovered. Scientists believe that this material might have important implications for manufacturing and building.

Now here is the catch. Two of these creatures are real. One is a total fabrication. It's up to readers to use whatever tools they can to figure out which one is false. And they are not particularly easy to figure out.

The book includes lots of other related short articles and side bars.  One of my favorites was a section called "Fake or Fiction," a list of ten weird "facts," nine of which are true and one which is false. Really fun!

My middle schoolers love this book. It's overdue at the library and I need to return it. I'm going to go buy it, because I know they will be looking for it when they come back to school on Monday. I've heard that this may be the first book in a series, and I'm hoping that's true! It's terrific!