Thursday, December 29, 2016

Montgomery, Sy. The Great White Shark Scientist.

Montgomery, Sy.  The Great White Shark Scientist.  Houghton Mifflin/ Harcourt
Brace  2016    70p      $17.99  ISBN 978-0-544-35298-8     ms/hs  Series: Scientists In the Field.  Nonfiction  E-BNS                  

Sharks, especially the great white, have fascinated humans for decades.  In this wonderful new addition to the Scientists in the Field series, the author describes the work of a group of scientists working off the Cape Cod coast who are studying them.  The group, led by Dr. Greg Skomal, is involved in locating, identifying, filming, and tracking these huge fish.   Their enthusiasm is boundless when they discover a new great white shark or find the pings of an old “friend”, and they draw their readers into the ocean with them.
         
 Montgomery’s writing is, as always, animated and inspiring.   Presented in an engaging manner, the title offers a travelogue of her expeditions to both Cape Cod and Guadalupe Island off the Mexican coast.  It is filled with unique stories about the sharks and the natural world that she finds, and is greatly enhanced by the outstanding color photographs that showcase the sharks along with the environmental and zoological aspects of the region.  The book ends with a series of extras:  unique facts and statistics about the sharks, shark maps and sharks by the number, a bibliography for further reading, and an index.
           
This exemplary series includes various outstanding titles about scientists who work in the natural world and make the study of science and nature very accessible and interesting to budding naturalists.  These books offer an incredible look into hidden worlds at the frontiers of human knowledge.  The text is clearly written and the awesome photographs are carefully presented and enhance the text.  This book should be a required purchase for all libraries.  It is sure to be  a winner, great for browsing as well as for research.
                       
Summary: Sharks, especially the great white, have fascinated humans for decades.  In this wonderful new addition to the Scientists in the Field series, the author describes the work of scientists off Cape Cod who are studying them. 

Great White Sharks                                                                                                     --Susan Ogintz

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