How to Spy on a Shark

by Lori Haskins Houran

Overview

Spend a day at sea tracking sharks—with the help of a robot!

Join a team of marine biologists as they head out in their boat to study mako sharks. Simple, entertaining text and bright, accurate illustrations bring science and technology to life, and additional pages of facts about sharks follow the story. This book is bound to make a splash with young minds!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781791105464
Publisher:	Weigl Publishers Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	56
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 11 Years

About the Author

Lori Haskins Houran is the author of more than forty books, including Next to You and Space Mice. She lives in Massachusetts with her family.

Francisca Marquez is a Mexican-born illustrator currently living in South Africa. When not painting, Francisca enjoys hiking in the mountains and swimming in the sea. She shares her studio with her cat, Popsicle.

Read an Excerpt

How to Spy on a Shark

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By Lori Haskins Houran, Francisca Marques

ALBERT WHITMAN & Company

Copyright © 2015 Lori Haskins Houran
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3402-1

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CHAPTER 1

Take a boat ride out to sea until you spy a fin.

Get all set to get all wet and splash! go diving in.

Glide beside a mako shark.

Spot a mako pup.

Call out to the crew to grab a net and scoop it up!

Grip the pup and flip it over.

Tag it. Let it go.

Drop a robot in the sea To follow it below!

The mako twists! The robot turns! They dart and dip and dive.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from How to Spy on a Shark by Lori Haskins Houran, Francisca Marques. Copyright © 2015 Lori Haskins Houran. Excerpted by permission of ALBERT WHITMAN & Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"With simplified, rounded forms and soft colors, the illustrations give this adventure an idyllic look."—Booklist

"Animal fans will enjoy this simple picture book on the study of sharks. A splendid bridge for introducing very young readers to expository texts, and a useful addition to the 590s."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

03/01/2015
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.—Martha Rico, El Paso ISD, TX

School Library Journal

2015-01-10
Houran invites readers along as a group of marine biologists tracks and follows a juvenile mako shark.The marine biologists use a net to catch the young shark, attaching a tag to the pup's pelvic fin. They then use a robot to track and monitor the shark, keeping tabs on its movements and eating habits. At the end of the day, the scientists (two women and one man, one Caucasian and two of indeterminate ethnicity) pull up the robot and wave goodbye to the sharks. Unfortunately, the author misses the mark in choosing to write in second person. "Take a boat ride / out to sea / until you spy a fin. // Get all set / to get all wet / and splash! / go diving in." Instead of tagging along on an adventure, readers may feel like they are being given orders and instructions, and many will feel uncomfortable or not up to the task. The simple illustrations bring readers up close to the action, but they are not part of it, as the text suggests. Backmatter gives a little more information about the topics presented—sharks fall asleep when they are turned belly up; makos can swim up to 35 mph—but this would have captured more interest within the body of the text. The dichotomy between the adult tasks and the simply worded rhyming text makes this one to skip. (Informational picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews