The Search for Sasquatch (A Wild Thing Book)

by Laura Krantz

Overview

Inspired by her popular Wild Thing podcast, journalist Laura Krantz incorporates the scientific method and her journalistic skills to determine if Bigfoot is real.

When journalist Laura Krantz discovered that her long-lost cousin, Grover Krantz, a distinguished anthropologist and professor at Washington State University, had devoted much of his career to the search for Bigfoot, she couldn’t quite believe it. A natural skeptic and a strong believer in facts, Krantz decided to conduct her own quest for the most famous and elusive mythical creature.

The Search for Sasquatch takes readers through the big guy’s fun, fascinating, and complex world, posing the question: Could Bigfoot be out there? Exploring the gray area between myth and science, Krantz takes readers on a strange, surreal, and surprising hunt for the fabled Sasquatch—showing us how to challenge our gut assumptions and open our minds to new possibilities, to think critically, and to use the scientific method along the way. The Search for Sasquatch asks readers to evaluate the evidence it presents and make up their own minds, all while considering why Bigfoot might be important—even if we don’t find him.
Includes Color Illustrations

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419758188
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/11/2022
Series:	Wild Thing
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	526,170
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Laura Krantz is a print and audio journalist whose critically acclaimed podcast Wild Thing explores the intersection between science and society. She spent 10 years as an editor and producer with NPR in Washington, D.C. and KPCC in Los Angeles, and her work has appeared in Smithsonian, Outside, and Popular Science. An Idaho native, Krantz received her BA from Whitman College and her MA from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She lives in Denver with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Scott Carney, and their two cats.

Editorial Reviews

"A case study in the tension between scientific objectivity and human nature….opens with lucid discussions of taxonomy and human evolution….[Krantz] highlights the importance of keeping an open mind and recognizing that there are still unsolved mysteries in the world….. diligent research…a readable précis." —Kirkus Reviews

"I know the journalist Laura Krantz to be a science-trusting, facts-first person….One of my favorite Laura Krantz-isms is this. Even if Bigfoot isn't real, we as a species need him to be."—A Martínez, NPR Morning Edition

From the Publisher

2022-06-22
A case study in the tension between scientific objectivity and human nature.

Not quite convincingly trying to position herself on the side of science, podcaster and science journalist Krantz opens with lucid discussions of taxonomy and human evolution but then runs through the circumstantial evidence—“thousands” of outsized footprints, “thousands” of sightings in every state except Hawaii, numerous blurry photos dubbed “blobsquatches” by aficionados, a set of mysterious ground “nests” discovered in Washington state. And while Krantz acknowledges the so far total lack of “irrefutable proof,” she highlights the importance of keeping an open mind and recognizing that there are still unsolved mysteries in the world. On more personal notes, she records an exciting (but fruitless) overnight expedition with a group of experienced “squatchers” and the (negative) results of a DNA test on a sample taken from one of the aforementioned nests. Along with showing that she’s done diligent research, the backmatter includes an inventory of camping supplies for would be squatchers (including a “camera—to get blurry blobsquatch photos”) and a quick list of Bigfoot relatives worldwide. Still, notwithstanding Krantz’s claim that the real prize is the search itself, prospective cryptid hunters will find a better, if even less skeptical, overview in Kelly Milner Halls’ In Search of Sasquatch (2011)—with photos rather than the fanciful graphics of shadowy monsters sitting on a modern toilet or posing as caped superheroes.

A readable précis that offers a decidedly mixed message. (glossary, notes, sources, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

"I know the journalist Laura Krantz to be a science-trusting, facts-first person….One of my favorite Laura Krantz-isms is this. Even if Bigfoot isn't real, we as a species need him to be."

NPR Morning Edition A Martínez