FICTION

How to Spy on a Shark

by Lori Haskins HOURAN
illus. by Francisca Marquez. 24p. Albert Whitman. Mar. 2015. Tr $15.99. ISBN 9780807534021. LC 2014023611.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 1—Animal fans will enjoy this simple picture book on the study of sharks. Relying upon concise sentences, Houran explains how marine biologists track mako shark pups by fitting them with tracking devices and using small robots that follow the sharks, recording their movements. The author provides more in-depth information about this process at the end of the book. Children will be drawn in by the soothing, serene illustrations, tinged with deep sea blue, that evoke a peaceful tone not usually associated with these animals. Educators seeking a younger, gentler alternative to Katherine Roy's excellent Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands (Roaring Brook, 2014) should consider this work. Pair Houran's informative and kid-friendly title with Tedd Arnold's Fly Guy Presents: Sharks (Scholastic, 2013) or Gail Gibbons's Sharks (Holiday House, 1992).
VERDICT A splendid bridge for introducing very young readers to expository texts, and a useful addition to the 590s.
Reviewed by Martha Rico, El Paso ISD, TX
This lightly rhymed text uses the imperative voice to explain how a tracking robot can follow a shark ("Grip the pup and flip it over / Tag it. Let it go"), while the softly colored illustrations show a research team of one adult and two young people performing the task. Though simplified, this is an engaging introduction to field research in marine biology.
, Mar 01, 2015

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