Customer Reviews

Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am an educator at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I teach about sharks and the marine environment because I think education is the best conservation tactic we have. My lifelong fascination with sharks and the ocean all began with this book. Eugenie Clark was an inspiration. This book did a marvelous job of conveying Dr. Clark's enthusiam and awe for not just sharks but for science. This book changed my life.

Unforgettable. I'd recommend it for children and adults alike. Reading of this woman's adventures had a great impact on how I look at the world. From the story of her childhood to some of her most exciting adventures with the sharks, the book is as masterfully written as any I've known. I can't believe this stuff actually happened.

As a child, Eugenie Clark was fascinated by fish at the aquarium, spending every Saturday there while her mother worked. These afternoons led directly to her future career as one of the leading experts in her field, as well as the title "Shark Lady."

This children's biography by Ann McGovern covers Clark's childhood, her trials and tribulations as a student, and then the many adventures that she embarked on during her adult career, including her first time walking on the bottom of the sea in a diving helmet, meeting the king of a small island in the Pacific, founding a research centre in Florida, and presenting a trained shark as a gift to the Crown Prince of Japan.

Likewise, the book recounts the various methods of research performed by Clark and her team, including the mystery of the "sleeping sharks" and the discovery of poisonous secretion of the fish known as the Moses sole.

Told in straightforward prose, the book captures the excitement and wonder of ichthyology and marine biology, making the subjects accessible for young readers; particularly those that may already have an interest in these fields. The portrayal of Clark herself is full of spark and life: precocious as a child, and full of enthusiasm as an adult, the narrative is strewn with her own words, quoted from various National Geographic articles. Ruth Chew provides simple but evocative pencil illustrations.

Ultimately, whether one is interested in sharks or not, this is a short but inspiring story that tells of a dream fulfilled and a life well-lived.

This book is very engaging yet easy to read. It has lots of good science content.

This book was a great book that I read. What made the book great was that it was mostly about sharks and I love sharks.