Customer Reviews

Surprising Sharks: Read and Wonder

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Word on the street (which is to say, librarian-based listservs) has it that the book "Surprising Sharks" is incredibly popular these days. Having heard that this book was flying from shelves across the country, garnering the love and respect of thousands of children every day, I thought I'd check it out myself. It's very rare that a non-fiction book becomes overwhelmingly accepted by kids. But when it happens, watch out! It might be all you can do to keep the l'il buggers from reading it day and night and day again.

The book is a clever look at the wide variety of sharks living in ocean waters today. From the tiny sixteen inch cookie-cutter shark (which wins my love on name alone) to the vast twenty-nine foot six inch basking shark, this book has `em all. It includes a variety of amusing factoids in its text, providing copious amounts of useful information. In a well drawn graphic section, the book examines the common properties that all sharks share, both inside and outside the body. Kids reading this book learn about the different parts of the shark and why they're so awfully dangerous. Most interestingly of all, the book makes it perfectly clear that while sharks do kill an average six people a year, people kill an average 100 MILLION sharks a year. The book finishes up with an index of all the sharks in the text (for kids' easy referencing) as well as a bit of shark history to boot.

I was a little sad that author Nicola Davies didn't give any space to a bibliography of sources kids could use to find out more about sharks and their ways. Still, that's small potatoes. Davies certainly seems to have plumbed every last bit of interesting information about sharks she could find. I mean, who knew that the gel-filled pits in a sharks nose detect the electrical messages in a prey's body? Or that latern sharks have light making organs that help them blend into the silvery surface of the water around them? News to me! Illustrator James Croft gives the book an easy-going cartoonish feel that doesn't particularly add much to the book, but neither does it detract. The book's brightly colored and amusing. Just not particularly original in that respect.

If you need a good non-fiction picture book that'll give some of the more scientifically minded kiddies the thrills they seek (and frankly, what kid isn't interested in man-eating animals with big nasty teeth?) "Surprising Sharks" is your best bet. It's not gory, but it'll certain give some kids the thrill of fear they seek in their non-fic lit. An enterprising and engaging book.

Since our first reading, my four year old daughter loves this book. She giggles at the humor and Nicola Davies wonderful use of her craft. A wonderful literary non-fiction choice.

This book is great for kids who love sharks. It is sassy, funny and breezy. I recommend it.

When participating in a storytime session, as I now do weekly, I like to choose picture books with bright images and related to nature, as the sessions are held in a children's museum with a strong ecological emphasis. I chose Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies for last week's story, because here in Florida, we are quite familiar with sharks. But a reader is in for a - you-guessed-it! surprise with this book as it shares the wonders and intrigue of sharks in easy-to-read text and appealing pictures.

Written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by James Croft, the work is a science text, storybook and environmental lesson all-in-one. Davies doesn't shy around the fact sharks are killers and humans are sometimes their prey but instead, turns this into a lesson about how we can educate ourselves about sharks. Any words too terrifying for little ones, such as "killer" or "bone-crunching" can easily be skipped.

The pages' fonts vary in size, and the illustrations are bright and colorful, making it extremely attractive to children. The overall effect is fun and light, not scary. The facts contained within are interesting, with charts of shark anatomy and tidbits about not-so-common sharks, like the Wobbegong, whose mottled skin resembles a carpet on the sea floor. Also detailed is how sharks are born, their feeding habits, and humans use sharks in every day products.