Sharkabet

by Ray Troll, American Museum of Natural History (Contributor)

It's Jaws all over again in this thrilling, chilling alphabet book for kids. Sharks, both living and extinct, lurk throughout its pages so kids can learn amazing facts about these dangerous and bizarre animals from the deep. Featuring Ray Troll's spectacular fishy art, Sharkabet takes you through the ABCs of different shark varieties. The colorful, eye-popping images are accompanied by the catchy factoids, making this book a swimmingly good read.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Science, Animals, Childrens, Natural History, Art

40 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

About the author

From his tree lined studio, high on a hill above the Tongass Narrows in rain-swept Ketchikan Alaska, Ray Troll draws & paints fishy images that migrate into museums, books and magazines and onto t-shirts sold around the planet. Basing his quirky, aquatic images on the latest scientific discoveries, Ray brings a street-smart sensibility to the worlds of ichthyology & paleontology.

Reviews

[Ashur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to be Ray Troll when I grow up.

[A Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full of illustrations instead of photographs and some of the illustrations are a bit odd. For example, the page that talks about angel sharks has cards or pictures of angels amongst the sharks, the dogfish page shows sharks mixed in with a pack of dogs on land, and the nurse shark page shows nurse sharks in the foreground while it appears a human hospital patient is in the background. The information about each shark is limited to just one sentence on almost every page and that sentence is not very informative, such as, "nurse sharks won't take care of you in the hospital, even in your wildest dreams." There are some facts at the very end, but they cannot redeem the book overall.

[Dr. Fogerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the incomparable mind of Ray Troll comes this exquisite alphabet book, Sharkabet. In the rich tradition of Troll's deep and fishy illustrations, the alphabet is a wealth of visual puns, arresting jokes, phonetic pronunciation opportunities, scientific names, and aquatic life. Above it all, Troll's distinct eye for marine beauty, whether in the Queensland Sawfish or the Scissor-Toothed Shark, stands out as the reason to return to the pages repeatedly. While this book would be good for any children who like the marine biology, or fish, it would also be good for grandparents or parents who want to share fishing and the sea with their kids. Further, Troll's credentials in terms of science are pretty legendary, so science teachers of elementary or middle grades who wanted to pull lessons from this text would find quite a bit to work with. Additionally, the book could be used as a model alphabet book, with students creating their own or collaborative alphabet books as a class project. The book contains a full field guide for all the sharks and sea life mentioned, as well as a bibliography.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun non-fiction alphabet shark book that shows both existing and extinct sharks, along with a few facts about each of them. The illustrations are where the fun comes in - dog sharks are shown swimming alongside dogs for example. Back-matter in the back of the book gives more information about sharks. (This book is a bit old so I hope that the publisher will release an updated version.)

[Jesslaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A colorful book full of sharks from A to Z! We loved the illustrations and learning about all the different types of sharks, several of them extinct. I especially appreciated the focus on more unique species of sharks. This book does not include the Great White or Hammerhead for example.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is full of tons of shark facts for your shark enthusiast.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no better way to learn the alphabet than by using sharks. I love them and there are alot of interesting facts and pictures in this book.

[Kelly Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book. Sharks rule, and so does Ray Troll.

[Madisyn Manzella · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 / 5.0
Purchased at Phinney Books.

Delightful quick read perfect for entertaining and educating youngsters.

Fun for adults too.

Great Illustrations.

[Beranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Alphabet Book
Grades: 2-6
Sharkabet is an ABC book that identifies a different shark for every letter of the alphabet. At first, I thought that the names of some of the sharks were made up, but after researching the shark names on the internet I found that all of the sharks in the book are real, Some of the sharks are extinct so that is why they are not widely known names. The book offers some fun features such as, a shark family tree, amazing shark facts, and pages full of specific information about each type of shark at the back of the book. I think that this book would be appropriate for grades 2-4 if it were read by an adult to the student’s. Otherwise the student’s would need to be 5th grade or older to read it alone, because the vocabulary used in the book is too complex for a beginning reader.
Activities:
1.I would have student’s pick their favorite shark from the book and then draw a picture of it. I would then laminate each student’s picture and cut it into puzzle pieces. The student’s would then complete a few different puzzles in class.
2. In groups, the student’s will choose their favorite shark from the book and then create a movie trailer introducing the shark to the rest of the class.

[Kate Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! The pictures are spectacular. Ray Troll really outdoes himself. I learned a lot about little-known existing sharks; for instance, who knew there was a cookie-cutter shark that takes perfectly round bites out of people, underwater cables, and whales? I also learned a ton about extinct sharks. One has a bizarre spiral jaw, another has something that looks like fur, another is like a great white shark (but unbelievably huge).

[Kardena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly did not enjoy reading this book. I don't think I would read this book to a younger group of children or have them read it by themselves. I thought the book was hard to read and I had to stop a lot to pronounce some of the words. I think if the children wanted to learn more about sharks and coud pronounce most of the names in the book then it would be a good book for them to read. To me I thought the book wasn't that good.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pro and con of book is the same---there are a lot of dinosaur sharks. Illustrations are amusing at times (nurse sharks are shown swimming around a man in a hospital bed). Each letter of the alphabet is accompanied by a short sentence and illustration per page.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best way to raise science aware kids? Read them science books for bedtime stories.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I found learning about sharks fascinating.

[ccoelophysis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray Troll is a masterful illustrator, and this bok is full of textual and visual puns that will make young and old chuckle.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids loved it. Fun way to practice the alphabet

[Potassium · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharks! And the alphabet! This book is super informative about sharks and it has really neat illustrations.

[MaryJane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great visual puns! Could be introduced as a read aloud, but the fun of this book is intensely looking at the pictures to discover the details.

[Taylor Darst · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book to learn the alphabet but with sea creatures.