An book full of interesting tales about states. I wouldn't classify most of the tales as strange but most are interesting. Great pictures illustrate the stories making the book even more enjoyable. Great read for trivia lovers. ( )

I love trivia! I love learning interesting facts about places/people/things. I also love the fact that it exercises my brain, which helps prevent alzhiemers.

This book is filled with strange but true facts from all 50 states. I've lived in Ohio, California and Florida, but never heard any of these tales before. In Florida, a pond was found to have 168 people buried in it, some who had died over 9,000 years ago. The cemetary was was hidden under the peat bog portion of the pond. Some of the skulls contained intact human brains. The tissue was preserved because the peat and mineralized waters minimalized the decompostition. I'd love to visit that area, see the pond and look at the museum housing the remains. I'd also love to take a vacation to some other states and check out their facts. This is one of the most interesting trivia book I've ever read. If you're a trivia buff like me or would like to learn some facts about the different states, you should read this book.

I love the illustrations which are black and white drawings curtesy of Dale Crawford. ( )

I know this book is out of my normal areas of reading but when I saw the book blurb I couldn't resist. There were quite a few little tidbits that cracked me up. The first half of the book goes state by state and talks about some sort of interesting story that not everyone might know about. The second half covers a mix of shorter tidbits from various states (I notice the East and South have a lot of these, maybe since they are the oldest states?). Some of my favorites were did you know at one time there were wild camels in America? That made me laugh and I couldn't believe it. I also find things like the "bog people", extremely well preserved bodies from ages ago found in peat bogs in Europe, interesting and I was amazed to find we had our own discoveries in Florida. I don't want to spoil the book so just my last favorite was about a young girl who was sent via the mail to visit her grandmother. Can you imagine that? If you find things like this interesting this is a great book to check out. ( )

What an interesting book! If you like trivia, quirky facts, or history, you will absolutely love this book.

Every state has a tale to tell, and the author has certainly delivered up some fascinating history. Best of all, the book is fun to read. The general layout of the book is one page of story and one illustration page. The stories range from heartwarming, to horrible, to down-right strange, but all are entertaining.

My favorite was my home state story of Fast Eddie, but the story of the student who killed the oldest living thing came in a close second! An additional section of the book, When Doomsday Came Calling in Your State, is quite an eye opener. Finally, the section called Thumbing Through America’s Weird Past is a meandering tour of the different areas of the country with bits and pieces of historical trivia.

The illustrators love of history and the old west shows in his detailed contributions to the book. The combination of story and drawings create a complete picture of each of the stories. This is a wonderful book for ages 10 – 110. You can also check out the author's website, http://www.strangetrueus.com, for additional information and even some collectable state postcards with tales from the book. ( )