Sharks Have Six Senses

by John F Waters, Bob Barner (Illustrator)

Overview

Read and find out about sharks in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

In the ocean, sharks are near the top of the food chain. Sharks have the same five senses as humans do, but they have an extra sixth sense that makes them especially deadly hunters. What is this sense and how does a shark use all six senses to track down prey? Read and find out!

Sharks Have Six Senses is a fascinating look into one of the most powerful predators in the sea.

This book also includes a find out more section with additional shark facts and web research prompts about shark conservation efforts. Both the text and the artwork were vetted for accuracy by Dr. George H. Burgess, director of the Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It's a Level 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are:

• hands-on and visual
• acclaimed and trusted
• great for classrooms

Top 10 reasons to love LRFOs:

• Entertain and educate at the same time
• Have appealing, child-centered topics
• Developmentally appropriate for emerging readers
• Focused; answering questions instead of using survey approach
• Employ engaging picture book quality illustrations
• Use simple charts and graphics to improve visual literacy skills
• Feature hands-on activities to engage young scientists
• Meet national science education standards
• Written/illustrated by award-winning authors/illustrators & vetted by an expert in the field
• Over 130 titles in print, meeting a wide range of kids' scientific interests

Books in this series support the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064451918
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/12/2015
Series:	Let's Read and Find Out Science Series: Level 2
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	669,495
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

John F. Waters was the author of over thirty books for children about science, including two Junior Literary Guild selections, The Crab from Yesterday and Neighborhood Puddle.

Bob Barner has written and illustrated over twenty-five children's books, including Dem Bones, Dinosaur Bones, and Stars! Stars! Stars! He graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design and worked as an art director and illustrator before starting his career in publishing. When he is not writing or drawing, he enjoys speaking to young readers at schools and libraries all around the world. Bob lives with his wife, Catherine, in San Francisco, California.

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2015
Gr 1–2—In this attractive picture book, Waters explains how sharks use six senses to great advantage. With distant touch, they detect minute changes in water current and temperature, and they hear vibrations over vast distances. With their gills, they smell underwater, and they can see in the dark. With nodes located in their throat and mouth, they can taste the animals they catch. Electroreception, sharks' unique sixth sense, enables them to detect creatures' electric fields, including the human heartbeat. The text employs useful, real-world examples. For instance, Waters compares a shark using electroreception to a beachcomber with a metal detector finding coins hidden under the sand. Spreads in bright yet gentle colors depict these animals and their prey, and the cut-paper collage illustrations soften the sharks' deadly actions. The introduction briefly addresses the threat of extinction as a result of human activities. Some anthropomorphizing ("big sharks could eat all the people they wanted…. But they don't, because sharks know that people don't live in their world.") detracts slightly from the information. VERDICT A suitable offering.—Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

2015-01-20
Paper-collage portraits with only an occasional flash of jagged dentifrice illustrate this appreciative description of how sharks use their extraordinarily sharp senses to find prey.In Common Core-friendly fashion, an incomplete portrait gallery ("Just some of the sharks you'll meet in this book!") opens, and a true/false quiz closes, this Level 2 entry in the venerable Let's Read and Find Out series. Following a brief lead-in scenario, Waters explains how each sense—smell, hearing, sight, taste, a particularly sensitive "distant touch" and finally electroreception—helps the predators locate fleeing, hiding or injured fish. Barner pairs views of a dozen sharks (each attended by a label) rendered with simplified markings and, usually, closed mouths cruising through a variety of open, brightly colored marine settings. Only the hammerhead is shown eating, and that from a top view so that its mouth cannot be seen. Ruminative readers may have trouble buying the author's "common sense" argument that sharks seldom attack people because they "know that people don't live in their world," but his twin messages that they are both fascinating creatures and, in many cases, at risk from pollution and other human activity will likely be taken to heart. A distinct and refreshing change of pace from the usual melodramatic shark fare. (glossary, websites) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Review