Sharks are some of nature's most interesting creatures! These masters of the sea have been around for about 400 million years - even before dinosaurs roamed the land. Did you know that the smallest shark is only six-inches long? Would you be surprised to learn that a shark swallows its food without chewing?

I had mixed feelings about the book “Sharks”. One reason that I liked the book is that it is jam packed with helpful information and real photographs. The book divides the information into text boxes with arrows that point to the respective photograph. This is very helpful because then, the reader knows exactly what shark the fact is about, and what the shark looks like. However, I think that using this format takes away from the organization of the book. Having information all around the page in no particular order could cause confusion for the reader. In addition, the book does not include many of the extra textual features generally found in nonfiction books such as a table of contents, index, or glossary. With none of these features, and the jumbled format, it would be very difficult to navigate and find information in this book. It seems to me that this would be a good book for a child who was interested in learning about sharks, but not good for something such as a research project. The main idea of the book is to teach about features and habits of different species of sharks. ( )

This book is loaded with shark facts about shark life, how sharks are built, how they catch prey, shark varieties, their relationship to humans, etc. The full-color pictures focus on a variety of shark species, which are illustrated all together on two pages, and reinforced with captions that name them. This book gives depth, variety, and understanding to young shark enthusiasts. ( )