Customer Reviews

A Pod of Killer Whales: The Mysterious Life of the Intelligent Orca (Jean-Michel Cousteau Presents)

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Whilst no writer should ever talk down to children, there is a requirement for a very different style of writing whenever a book is aimed at the younger reader. This book achieves that requirement rather well - although nowhere does it actually state to which section of readership the book is primarily aimed. It is only by corresponding with the publisher that this information came to light. My point being; If the book were aimed at an adult audience, it would fall well short of the required standards of writing. As a book aimed at younger readers, however, it suddenly comes to life in the way the subject is both explained and portrayed.

This is one in a series of books which seek to explain a specific creature (in this case the Killer Whale) using the collective noun for that creature as part of the title. My favourite title, incidentally is "A Dazzle of Hummingbirds" - but I digress.

The original product was not up to any acceptable mark for any audience, and I would certainly not revise my view of that book just because this series of books is now being distributed by new publishers and that Jean-Michel Cousteau has added his name as Publishing Director. He has also written the foreword which, unfortunately, is more about himself than the book. No!, any re-write - or second edition, needs far more than just that.

In this case, I asked those new publishers some straight forward questions before putting pen to paper. Bearing in mind that I have seen and photographed the Killer Whale in the wild (and sold one of the resultant photographs to National Geographic!), I have a very keen interest in this particular subject.

Thankfully, that overly thick cardboard cover has gone and is replaced by more manageable paperback. The photographs by Jeff Foot remain - and quite rightly so, they are pretty damn good.

Altogether, therefore, this book has been updated and much improved and I do believe it will prove to be an excellent gift for any young reader with an interest in the subject.

This review relates to the second edition of this book in the "Jean-Michel Cousteau presents" series.

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