Outside and Inside Giant Squid (Outside and Inside (Walker & Company)) [Paperback]

Sandra Markle (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Outside and Inside (Walker & Company)

Explore the eerie world of giant squid, a creature never yet seen alive!

Plunge into the darkest depths of the ocean and discover some of the strangest, most mysterious creatures on earth: giant squid. These amazing animals have eyes as large as volleyballs, can be as long as a city bus, and may weigh up to a ton. Without living specimens, scientists have only been able to study the dead bodies of giant squid that have washed ashore or been found by fishermen and compare them with the Architeuthis dux’s nearly 500 smaller relatives. These mysterious behemoths are just as strange as more commonly seen squid, only their oddities are giant-sized. With beaks, suckers, three hearts, eight arms, and rubbery bodies made almost entirely of muscle, squid are among the most fascinating inhabitants of the ocean’s deep. With rare and remarkable photographs and crystalline prose, Sandra Markle illuminates the world of these incredible creatures.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8-This fascinating introduction to the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), which has never been seen alive, discusses what scientists have been able to determine about its diet, anatomy, and reproduction by studying dead specimens and the species' 500 smaller relatives. Exceptional full-color photos accompany the clear and concise text that often quotes researchers from the Smithsonian and around the world. Scientific words are highlighted in red and are further described in the glossary, which also includes a pronunciation guide. A first purchase due to the high quality of presentation as well as the absence of other titles on the subject.
Doris Losey, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library, Tampa, FL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. From its mammoth size (57 feet; 1,980 pounds) to its ability to taste with its tentacles, dozens of fascinating facts are revealed about Archieteuthis, one of the ocean's most mysterious inhabitants. Markle, who notes that scientists have been unable to study the creature close-up because of the depths of its habitat, explains how forensic evidence gathered from giant squid washed ashore and information about more common squid have allowed researchers to get a clearer picture of this mighty aquatic wonder. Especially appealing is the idea that, when direct data are not available, scientific conclusions can be arrived at through inference and comparison. Although there are no size-relational illustrations, the book, like the rest of Markle's Outside and Inside series, benefits from its color photos. The volume is a treasure trove of facts sure to intrigue budding biologists and the merely curious to an equal degree. Terry Glover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Walker Childrens (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802777244
• ISBN-13: 978-0802777249
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 9 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SANDRA MARKLE

Sandra Markle is the author of more than 200 books for children, such as A Mother's Journey (Charlesbridge, 2006), How Many Baby Pandas (Walker, 2009), The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs (Millbrook, 2011), Butterfly Tree (Peachtree Publishing, 2011). She has won numerous awards for this work, including Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, SB& F finalist, John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, Junior Library Guild Selection, Orbis Pictus Recommended Book, Charlotte Zolotow Award, and MORE.
She was honoured with the title of "Best of Children's Non-Fiction" Georgia Author Of The Year award five times and was named one of 1999's Women of the Year by Women in Technology International for her contributions to science and technology.

In addition to her books, Sandra Markle has developed science specials for CNN and PBS. She is also noted for developing On-Line Expedition: Antarctica, one of the first on-line educational programs and continued adding further on-line reports from Antarctica while working on book projects in 1996 and 1999 as a grantee for the National Science Foundation's Artists and Writers Program.

Reviewers have heaped praise on Markle's books, including:
Outside and Inside Bats "The author presents a particularly felicitous accord of words and pictures in an outstanding science book for the primary grades." The Horn Book Magazine
Outside and Inside Alligators "This newest installment of the Outside and Inside series adds another fine book to a top-notch series." Bookselling This Week, a Kid's Pick of the Lists
Outside and Inside Dinosaurs It's like sitting down with a dinosaur expert who happens to be a great teacher." The Horn Book Magazine

Sandra Markle remains proudest, though, of the praise she has received in fan mail from children. She's happy to fulfill the requests of the young readers that urge her to "please write more."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars everybody loves big squids!, March 21, 2006

By 

Mark Montague "Monty" (Altadena, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outside and Inside Giant Squid (Hardcover)

As a longtime fan of cephalopods in general and squids in particular, I was very impressed by this book. It's quite good at being accessible to readers of a fairly young age while not "dumbing down" the science at all. It has a variety of color plates, both from giant squid dissections (from the lab of Clyde Roper, one of the world's foremost experts on the giant squid) and from pictures of other squids in their natural environment. (Until recently, no one had ever seen or photographed a giant squid in its environment at all, so showing smaller squids is really the best way to illustrate these amazing animals... and Ms. Markle is careful to describe which pictures are giant squids and which are smaller ones.)

This is a great book to get for a budding marine biologist... I expect it's interesting enough to hold the attention of a lot of kids, but it will particularly appeal to those who are excited to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium or watch Jaques Cousteau documentaries.

It's important to note that this is really a biology book, and it does show photographs of dissected animals. I don't find it disturbing at all, but for someone extremely squeamish, that could be an issue.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You asked for it, January 20, 2008

By 

Dana Beaudry "cephla-nerd" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outside and Inside Giant Squid (Outside and Inside (Walker & Company)) (Paperback)

I had to learn a lot about the Giant Squid and this book was so great, and excellent for elementary learners especially.