weird but true! RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES. National Geographic Kids, Random House. 2014. $15.99 ages 10 and up

"The Viennese Vegetable Orchestra may be the world's weirdest group of musicians. All of their instruments are carved out of vegetables and fruit! From pumpkin drums to celery guitars, each instrument is made fresh for each performance. Audiences enjoy the unique sounds of whistling carrot flutes, crackling onion skin, squawking red pepper horns, and more..."

You will be astounded at some of the headlines there for you to read in this new Weird But True publication! Every single one is a true story, though most are unlike anything else you might have read.  Taken from today's news headlines, or from the past, they each offer a bizarre, or decidedly hard-to-believe picture of odd events.

There are 8 chapters: Wacky World Headlines, Wild Animals, Incredible Inventions, Freaky Food, Strange Science, Way-Out Travel, Weird World of Sports and finally, Culture Shock. I went first to the sports section and found this tidbit about soccer:

"Two Japanese companies put their heads together to come up with the latest in soccer technology - a toilet goalie. But the S.G.I.K. (Super Great Toilet Keeper) is not your average toilet. In just 0.1 second, two high-speed cameras on the toilet capture the destination of a soccer ball that has been kicked toward it. The toilet then adjusts its position and shoots out a smaller ball, knocking the soccer ball away from the goal. And it always puts the lid down when it's finished!"

I do want to share this which does a mom/teacher/librarian/soon-to-be-grandmother's heart good:

"Kids learn as many as 12,000 new words a year just from reading books." HUZZAH!

I could go on, but that would no fun for you...and it surely wouldn't encourage you to get yourself a copy of this fabulous new book. You will be entertained for hours, and looking for someone to share your newfound information with whenever a group of friends gets together. Enjoy!