I hope my kids develop the same fascination for mythology and folklore that I had as a young boy. I've guided them in that direction with some of the stories I've read to them, and now that they're reading on their own, I still make a few choices to encourage their developing interests.

At a recent Scholastic book fair at their school, I let them choose their own books ... but I also picked up a copy of History's Mysteries: Legends & Lore, written by Anna Claybourne for National Geographic Kids. Naturally, before giving it to them I had to read it myself -- my childhood fascination for the topic hasn't faded.

Subtitled "Curious Clues, Cold Cases, & Puzzles from the Past," the book is well organized, providing enough information to whet a reader's appetite on a wide variety of topics and, hopefully, spur future reading on the subject. Each section provides background, details, clues and theories -- and when recent discoveries have provided new answers, that's included, too. Each section is richly illustrated with photographs, artwork and other visual cues to further spark the reader's interest.

The book is divided into several sections: Fables & Folklore, Mysterious Monsters, Underwater Mysteries, Stories in the Stone, Mysterious Ruins, Perilous & Puzzling Places, and Vanishing Acts & Astonishing Appearances. Each section is further divided into chapters, most of about four pages each, delving into mysteries from many cultures throughout the world. Many are familiar, but many are not.

Topics include Rama's Bridge, the Pied Piper, the Great Flood, Skeleton Lake, mermaids, dragons, giants, Mongolian death worms, the Lake Champlain Monster, the kappa, Orang Pendek, the Yonagun Monument, Sac Uayum, Lake Michigan's Stonehenge, the Baltic Sea Anomaly, the cup & ring Stones, a Pictish picture puzzle, cave art depicting aliens and alien spacecraft, life on Mars, helicopters and other advanced vessels shown in ancient hieroglyphics, the sailing stones of Death Valley, the Baalbek complex, the labyrinth of Knossos, the ruins of Gobekli Tepe, Goseck Circle, the labyrinth of Egypt, the lost city of Z, phantom islands, the land of Punt, Europeans who discovered America before Columbus, Mount Everest explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, the green children of Woolpit, the utsuro-bune of Hitachi, Japan, the teleporting palace guard, the men from Laxaria and Taured, and the missing lighthouse keepers of Eilean Mor.

It's fascinating stuff, and I hope it ignites my kids' imaginations and stokes their passion for unexplained mysteries and folklore from around the world.