The text begins like a fantastic adventure tale, yet the story is true. I love the illustrations and photos -- so much to look at, so many different styles. Goes into great depth about giant squids and the attempts to find and understand them better. Much of the text and photos focus on one specific squid researcher, Clyde Roper. Includes: glossary, websites and books for further exploration, index, and about the authors. ( )

Fascinating, engagingly written account of giant squids and the scientists who study them, accompanied by stunning photos and illuminating diagrams. I always wondered how squids and their relatives, such as the octopus, propelled themselves backwards. "A squid can make a quick escape using jet propulsion. It shoots water out of its body through a funnel to rocket backward, like a balloon suddenly releasing its air." The balloon analogy helped me to picture this exactly and the labeled drawing on page 13 showed me where the squid's funnel is located, right below it's eye. Clyde Roper is a real adventure-scientist, willing to wade into the guts of a dead, beached sperm whale to search for squid beaks in all three stomachs, and braving squid bites to dive with Humboldt squid, and observe their hunting techniques to imagine what the giant squid might do. Beautiful photos of squid relatives including the chambered nautilis, cuttlefish, octopus, calamari squid (luminescently rainbow-colored), and glass squid (stunning). I only wish the author had provided sizes for these animals, but I can look them up on the web. Includes a glossary, websites, book resources, and index. ( )

great science read ( )

Is it possible to have too many giant squid books? In my opinion, you can NEVER have too many!

This Smithsonian title published by Capstone is lavishly illustrated with striking black and white tentacles, photographs, and historical illustrations. It has an excellent layout, different colored pages highlighting different arcs of the plot from historical legends about the giant squid to current scientific research.

The text follows the ancient tales of the kraken up to present-day explorations of the giant squid's deep sea habitat, focusing on the lifelong studies of Clyde Roper. Beginning with his observations of snails, he moved on to study other mollusks and eventually became fascinated with the giant squid. With the help of other scientists, he was able to discover many unknown details about the squid's life. The book ends with the first live photos of the giant squid and talks about some of the aspects of this mysterious creature that are still unknown.

A glossary, index, and further reading are included.

Verdict: This is a great look at current research on the giant squid, written for a younger middle grade audience. There's plenty of gory dissection pictures as well as scientific photos to wow the readers. Pair this with H. P. Newquist's Here There Be Monsters for older kids and have a squid book for every reader! Highly recommended.

ISBN: 1429675411; Published by Capstone; Ebook provided by the publisher through Netgalley; Purchased for the library