Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2016 is a weekly celebration of imaginative children’s nonfiction materials hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy.
Sharks and Other Deadly Creatures : Visual Encyclopedia
I love sharks. I’ve always loved sharks. Shark Week was always a highlight of my TV schedule, Jaws is one of my all-time favourite movies, and I think I’ve seen each and every one of those ridiculous Syfy Channel shark movies (Two-Headed Shark Attack, anyone?). My friend and I went to see The Shallows recently, and I was seriously annoyed by its portrayal of the shark as a vengeful, relentless killing machine – have we not moved on from Jaws 4, Hollywood? Have we learned nothing?
You can imagine how excited I was to see this stunning nonfiction title pop up on the shelves recently. DK is known for its fantastic photography, and this title is no exception. Kids are going to be drawn in by the crazy cover, and will be kept engaged by each page of eye-catching imagery, which is a great blend of disgusting and cool.
This is one of those titles that’s packed with information but still manages to be exciting.I really appreciate books that offer their information in manageable, bite-sized pieces, making them more accessible and ensuring that they don’t come across as intimidating or overwhelming to young readers, despite being highly educational.
A student could theoretically use Sharks and Other Deadly Ocean Creatures for research purposes, but none of the creatures are discussed in any great detail, making this perhaps better suited for recreational reading. I’m a huge fan of reading nonfiction for pleasure, so of course I’m always delighted to come across a book that I think kids will be happy to read just for the fun of it.
So, any fellow shark nerds in the audience? If so, you’ll probably want to get your hands on this one, so you can look through it before the kids get to it. 😉
We have a couple of ocean and shark displays at the store. People do love sharks, lol.
Sharks are so fascinating! It’s amazing to think that they’ve been almost unchanged for millions of years, definitely helps put human beings in perspective! 🙂
Looks like a book filled with information, Jane. We watched a fisherman fight a “big” fish near us this summer, took about 30 minutes & he hauled in a small shark, did throw it back, but it was amazing to see this, and feel a bit sorry for it too. It made a huge leap back and swam fast out to the deep. Thanks for sharing this book.
I’m glad the shark got to swim away for another day! It’s amazing to see these creatures up close, it’s so inspiring to see creatures in the wild.
Sharks are always very popular. And sadly, it’s more the horror stories–especially the fictional ones.
I love this feature. I need to read more nonfiction with my daughter. She had a lot of books in her personal library, but very few nonfiction titles.
It’s so important for kids to respect and understand wild creatures – they can be dangerous, but they’re not evil or mean-spirited, they’re just doing what they were designed to do! I love being a part of this nonfiction community, there are so many exciting nonfiction titles available these days, so there’s lots to explore and enjoy.
We are living in South Florida this summer and we finally went to the ocean for the first time yesterday. We went with another family and the dad was telling us he visited the same beach earlier in the summer and while wading in very shallow waters, he looked over and a shark was right next to him. No matter what I read about these creatures, I will always be scared of them!
Oh yes – I love sharks on TV or in books, but I definitely don’t want to be in the water with them, yikes!! I went to Hawaii once and I think I dipped my feet in the water a couple of times, and that was it…!! 🙂
I used to love DK books! I haven’t seen any of the new DK books; I’ll have to fix that and go find some from my library.
I love sharks though, too, so I am a sucker for NF shark books!