Oh yea, Space Monsters (1977), that’s the ticket! That cover is so good! Some color toned, high-contrast film stills slapped together on a blue background. What else could I possibly need?

This is honestly a pretty solid overview of science fiction monsters through the mid-’70s, even aimed as it is at kids. It’s got serials, TV shows like Star Trek, Lost in Space and The Outer Limits, an informative aside on the pulp origins of science fiction, all the major schlocky ’50s flicks and some more serious fare as well like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Quatermas films and Day of the Triffids, which all push up against horror in a way that I’m slightly surprised to see them in a young readers book like this. I don’t know what grade level this is written for, but I probably wouldn’t let my kid watch the Hammer Quatermas and the Pit until after it, if that makes sense.