Some sharks can bite 300 times harder than a human, enough to cut through a thick piece of steel.

REVIEWS:

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Frances E. Millhouser, Chantilly Regional Library, VA

Gr 4-5. In a narrative that flows from the general to the specific, Simon describes the appearance, physical characteristics, and behavior of sharks. Large, full-color photographs amplify the text and hint at its contents. For example, a closeup of a…

Gr 4-5. In a narrative that flows from the general to the specific, Simon describes the appearance, physical characteristics, and behavior of sharks. Large, full-color photographs amplify the text and hint at its contents. For example, a closeup of a sand tiger shark's open mouth and row upon row of teeth invites readers into the facing text, which describes how sharks bite and what happens when a tooth is broken or lost. A photo of the gaping mouth of a whale shark introduces the filter-feeders, a small group without teeth. The information is not indexed or divided into chapters. This is not as detailed a treatment as Mary M. Cerullo's Sharks (Cobblehill, 1993) or Sharks (Facts on File, 1987). Instead, it's an introduction to the topic that combines seamless description with excellent photos to describe creatures that never fail to fascinate.

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CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Just looking at the cover of Sharks will convince you that you need to learn all you can about sharks! The big, bold, yellow title and the ominous creature on the cover will lure readers right into this fact-filled and…

Just looking at the cover of Sharks will convince you that you need to learn all you can about sharks! The big, bold, yellow title and the ominous creature on the cover will lure readers right into this fact-filled and clearly presented book. Every page contains a full-sized, gorgeous, and sometimes unsettling photograph of a shark. We see a baby swell shark emerging from its egg case, an enormous-looking sand tiger shark and its rows of sharp teeth, hammerheads swimming in sunlit shallow water, and a blacktip reef shark devouring a large mackerel. Simon is skilled at writing for readers who are unfamiliar with scientific terminology. When he says that sharks are cold-blooded, the very next sentence tells readers just what cold-blooded means. This is a fun and informative book.

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