The Truth About Dangerous Sea Creatures

by Mary M. Cerullo

Overview

The Truth about Dangerous Sea Creatures, full of eye-catching photography and interesting facts will thrill any young reader interested in the misunderstood creatures of the deep sea.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452133997
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	09/24/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	8 - 18 Years

About the Author

Mary M. Cerullo has written 12 books on ocean life for children. She is the Associate Director of Friends of Casco Bay, and environmental group in South Portland, Maine.

Editorial Reviews

Think anemones are enemies? Readers can get the facts with the paper-over-board The Truth About Dangerous Sea Creatures by Mary Cerullo, illus. by Michael Wertz. This follow-up to The Truth About Great White Sharks is rife with underwater photographs by Jeffrey Rotman. The book debunks myths about many unjustly maligned sea animals, while on the other hand educating readers about many octopi, urchins and fish that are fully deserving of their nasty reputations. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3-5-This book looks at a variety of "dangerous" sea animals, such as sharks, jellies, and a giant squid, and provides readers with solid information. Without playing down their threatening features, Cerullo introduces a different sea dweller on each spread and examines both the myths and realities about it. For example, people fear the giant octopus because of its size, but in reality the smallest octopus, the blue-ringed, is the one that can be lethal to humans. The language is sophisticated enough to make this selection suitable for older readers, but the amount of text is brief enough to keep the material accessible. Full-color photos and childlike drawings add a lot of visual appeal. The final pages include a "Helpful Hints" section of advice on what readers should do if they encounter a dangerous creature. Three of the four titles in the bibliography are previous works by the author, and this book borrows some of its material (particularly photos) from them. There is not enough detail here to make this title useful for reports, but it will attract general readers.-Arwen Marshall, Minneapolis Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Oceanographer Cerullo provides a potpourri of odd facts about 25 sea creatures, including lionfish, giant octopus, jellies, stingrays, and tiger sharks. While many of the full-color underwater photos are appealing, the busy format detracts. Each double-page spread includes several paragraphs of text against a brightly colored background, photos, and banal cartoon-like line drawings. Photos cropped and dropped into the layout in a variety of boxes and bubbles offer no information on the size of creatures shown, so the reader is not sure whether the sea snake is larger than a moray eel, or whether a grouper is actually four times the size of a human diver. The author concludes with "helpful hints." If you get injured exploring the ocean, for instance, she suggests calling "a doctor or poison control center." Hardly earth-shattering. (glossary, further reading, Web sites, index) (Nonfiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews