Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands
by Katherine Roy (Author) Katherine Roy (Illustrator)
A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
Winner of the John Burroughs Riverby Award for Young Readers
Up close with the ocean's most fearsome and famous predator and the scientists who study them-just twenty-six miles from the Golden Gate Bridge!
A few miles from San Francisco lives a population of the ocean's largest and most famous predators. Each fall, while the city's inhabitants dine on steaks, salads, and sandwiches, the great white sharks return to California's Farallon Islands to dine on their favorite meal: the seals that live on the island's rocky coasts. Massive, fast, and perfectly adapted to hunting after 11 million years of evolution, the great whites are among the planet's most fearsome, fascinating, and least understood animals.
In the fall of 2012, Katherine Roy visited the Farallons with the scientists who study the islands' shark population. She witnessed seal attacks, observed sharks being tagged in the wild, and got an up close look at the dramatic Farallons-a wildlife refuge that is strictly off-limits to all but the scientists who work there. Neighborhood Sharks is an intimate portrait of the life cycle, biology, and habitat of the great white shark, based on the latest research and an up-close visit with these amazing animals.
This title has Common Core connections.
Locate at a Library Near You WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.
Find books about:
School Library Journal
Gr 2-4--In preparation for this well-researched book on great white sharks, Roy joined scientists in the Farallon Islands to study the animals near San Francisco. Though shark lovers of all ages will enjoy poring over the intense, vivid images, there's a lot of information that older students will particularly appreciate. Readers will learn about many aspects of great whites--their anatomy, how they hunt, and their place in the ecosystem, as well as how scientists study them. The action-packed illustrations, rendered in watercolor and pencil with some digital work, are both accurate and captivating. Pair this one with Gail Gibbons's Sharks (Holiday House, 1992) or Seymour Simon's Incredible Sharks (Chronicle, 2003). Additional information in the form of films, books, and online resources are appended, including a link to a live webcam of the Farallon Islands. An excellent introduction.--Martha Rico, El Paso ISD, TX
Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Publishers Weekly
Drama and intrigue infuse Roy's study of migrating great white sharks. Each year, the sharks return to San Francisco: "While their 800,000 human neighbors dine on steak, salad, and sandwiches, the white sharks hunt for their favorite meal." With violence and wild beauty, one of Roy's sharks attacks a local elephant seal, sending forth a bubbling gush of blood. Elsewhere, Roy playfully compares the characteristics of a shark's body to those of a jet plane, and cutaway images display a shark's internal anatomy. Roy's reverence for her subject is evident in her majestic underwater scenes, while light humor and rich content round out a standout resource for shark enthusiasts. Ages 7-11. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Sept.)
Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Sharks
White shark
White sharks
Farallon Islands
