Krakens, giant squid, and other such monsters have inhabited legend and frightened sailors for centuries. Using scientific inquiry, Dr. Clyde Roper and other cephalopod experts have uncovered some major truths about the very real giant squid, which averages 46 feet long. Cerullo follows the research and recounts the discoveries of new information about the elusive mollusk. Sightings are rare with only 500 giant squid specimens on hand. The colorful layout, extraordinary photographs, fascinating facts, and detailed diagrams will inspire students to ask even more questions and perhaps emulate the dedicated scientists who solve mysteries like this. With eyes the size of car headlights, a beak sharp enough to bite through steel, and an aggressive personality, the giant squid will not disappoint any reader on the lookout for oceanic adventure. Recommended.
The facts, photographs, and illustrations are woven together well. The effect is a true life adventure story that will educate while entertaining. I think that Giant Squid: Searching for a Sea Monster would be perfect for any nonfiction collection intended for elementary school students
Yahoo! Contributor Network
Best 2012 Science Books for Middle Grades.
Growing With Science blog
This 48-page, hardcover book is devoted to a single topic: the giant squid, though pictures and descriptions of similar organisms are covered as well. The book begins with historical accounts and early evidence of the giant squid’s existence. There is photographic evidence presented, dated back to 1873 in Newfoundland, of giant squid bodies being hauled up in fishermen’s net. People followed the evidence that such a creature existed, but it was often included in stories with Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. The adventures of science researcher Clyde Roper and his colleagues are featured throughout the book as they search for more information about the mysterious creature described over centuries of sightings. A description of Roper’s close encounter with a Humboldt squid is accompanied by photos of this large and dangerous creature. The search for this squid is used as the basis for a chapter on how scientists solve mysteries, including finding clues, and using autopsies and instruments to observe and track organisms of interest. The readability of this book is aimed at children in grades 2 through 6, and the provided visuals will catch the interest of younger children who like to read about monsters. There is an index, a glossary, and web links provided for those children motivated to learn more about giant squid and related topics. This would be a good addition to a classroom or library book shelf where children can select their free-time reading materials.
TWO STARS! Searching for the giant squid is an endeavor that invariably appeals to most children and adults as well. The images are almost all in color, involving drawings of early reports of sailor/giant squid interactions, photographs of squid relatives, scientists performing various steps in research (including whale autopsies and deployment of cameras from ships), preserved giant squids, anatomical parts of squid, and images from the first videos taken of live giant squid in the wild. In all, the book is largely filled with pictures that catch the eye, with accompanying text to explain the images. However, the images are nicely dovetailed to tell a coherent, comprehensive narrative. The second author is a squidhunting scientist himself (a zoologist with the Smithsonian Institution), and so the book largely describes his passionate search for these animals, outlining his childhood dreams and thought process through his adult scientific hunt while continually using his first name so that the process of scientific inquiry comes alive through his personal lens. The various pieces of information that led Clyde to look for the squid in different places, and his repeated tantalizing, but ultimately disappointing, findings of the ecosystem they inhabit are honestly portrayed. The exciting work leading up to the filming of the giant squid by the Japanese scientist Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera is outlined, and again the amount of time that such discoveries take (23 trips over 3 years) is honestly portrayed. One of the nice things about this book is that it personalizes the scientists and the hard work they must do, sometimes with disappointing results, but also the fact that the scientists remain excited about their ultimate goal. This message, that science takes time and perseverance and does not always work the way scientists might like, is an important one for students to hear. At the end of the book, what has been learned and some of the remaining questions are itemized. The book ends with a brief glossary and books and websites for further information. In all, besides the lovely images and exciting topic, the strength of this book is the personalization of the scientist and the idea that science is a continuous and gradual process of information gathering that often takes many years, or even a lifetime.
Though yet to be observed in its natural environment, the giant squid (and its heavier Antarctic cousin, the colossal squid) is slowly giving up its secrets thanks to Clyde Roper, one of the world’s leading teuthologists. Along with a quick tally of historical encounters with the creatures, this presents accounts of several of Roper’s undersea expeditions—along with those of Japanese expert Tsunemi Kubodera—and summarizes in clear, simple language what has been learned or inferred about the monsters’ physical structures, behavior, and life cycle. Some memorable color photos, including views of Roper laying down beside a dead squid to show its length, posing next to a headlamp-size eyeball, and deep in the bloody guts of a recently beached sperm whale add plenty of visual appeal (of a sort) to the generous array of charts, maps, and painted images. This makes rewarding reading for fans of the Scientists in the Field series, or anyone interested in learning more about some of the world’s largest and most outstandingly alien-looking animals.
Join a teuthologist on his quest to study giant squids in their natural habitat, learn how giant squids are an intrinsic part of ocean ecosystems, and develop a craving for calamari as you devour interesting information about giant squids. Readers of all ages will enjoy this book for its well-presented facts, bright illustrations, and photographs.
Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
The writing is engaging and perfect for reluctant readers. Cerullo keeps the excitement building throughout . . . .A fine example of science books for children.
Nonfiction Book Detectives blog
The scientific work of Dr. Clyde Roper is featured in this fascinating look at the mysterious deep-sea creature, the giant squid. . . .Illustrated with a mix of actual photographs, charts, diagrams and illustrations this narrative provides an enormous amount of factual information about this little-known subject in addition to pieces of some of the sea lore that surrounds them. Sightings of these rare animals are few partly because they live in the freezing depths of the ocean usually from 1,600 to 3,300 feet below sea level. How scientists have used photography to search and study these elusive creatures combined with the fact that a giant squid has never been captured or observed within their own environment makes fascinating account. This text was selected as an Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2013.
Awesome nonfiction text about the search for the giant squid, alive and in its natural habitat. As a teacher with little squid hunters in my own classroom, this book is especially relevant and exciting to add to my classroom library.
Blue Stocking Thinking blog
If you find these real-life sea monsters fascinating, you will definitely want to check out this new non-fiction book. . . .The book has many illustrations and photographs (some of them fantastically gross!) and may appeal to reluctant readers. I highly recommend it!
Great pictures, easy to read text. Highly recommended for grade schoolers!
Beginning with a history of human encounters with giant squids, the authors go on to detail the personal experiences of teuthologist Roper in studying this mysterious cephalopod. Numerous photographs, drawings, diagrams, and intriguing sidebars enhance the text.
Gr 4–6—It took centuries before scientists realized that there was an actual, living creature behind sailors' tales of a colossal sea monster. This introduction briefly recounts some of the legends and historical clues that led to the giant squid's identification in the 19th century before focusing on Dr. Clyde Roper, a renowned specialist on cephalopods (and coauthor) who made it his life's work to study the species; no live specimen had ever been captured or observed in its deep-sea habitat. The text describes how Roper gathered facts by autopsying the carcasses of giant squids and sperm whales (its chief predator), examining other squid species, etc.; it also outlines several expeditions he led in search of a live specimen. It was a Japanese scientist, however, who took the first photographs and filmed the first video of a living giant squid (in 2004 and 2006, respectively), and some of those images are included here. Giant Squid is clearly written, albeit loosely organized. Numerous, oddly placed sidebars with related information detract from the main text, as does the busy format; from one to three illustrations accompany the text on most pages—a jumble of mostly clear black-and-white and color photos, drawings, sketches, etc. H.P. Newquist's Here There Be Monsters: the Legendary Kraken and the Giant Squid (Houghton Harcourt, 2010) covers the same topic in more detail and mentions Roper's work, making it a better choice.—Karey Wehner, formerly at San Francisco Public Library
