The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish

Hidden Wonders

by Chloe Savage

The tale of an Arctic expedition invites readers to discover an elusive creature.

Dr. Morley absolutely loves jellyfish. Her entire life, she has been fascinated by one specific species, a legendary creature that no one has ever seen. Does the giant Arctic jellyfish even exist? After years of research, Dr. Morley and her crew don their red parkas and set off to icy northern waters in hopes of finding the mysterious creature. The Arctic Circle is filled with wonders: playful orcas, the glowing aurora borealis, and formidable ice shelves—but will Dr. Morley find what she is searching for? Or, perhaps, will it find her?

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Adventure, Science, Nature, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2022

About the author

Chloe Savage received a BA in TV and film set design from Cardiff University in Wales and an MA in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in England. She has worked in opera, film, and television, but says she discovered her passion for illustration and storytelling while doodling on call sheets. The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish is her first book. A great lover of food and the seaside, Chloe Savage lives in England.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is]

Read for my toddler's bedtime. A group of scientists traveled to the north in search of the giant arctic jellyfish. They are traveling by this multi level ship. The illustrations is amazing and so beautiful! The story is great! The giant arctic jellyfish is so pretty too. I love the glimpse into the multi story ship and what each crew are doing at a point in time. My toddler and I love this book and we have read it multiple times. There were some hide-and-seek moments where the jellyfish showed up but the scientists were looking at the other way and couldn't see. Did I mentioned the illustrations? It's gorgeous!!!

Thank you Candlewick Press for the complimentary copy!

[Luna]

Trop beau j’adore

[Christian Schultheiss]

Honestly art wise, this it quite a beautiful if cold book with such a desolate sweetness to the pictures in a way that actually make you feel a bit cold and whisked away to a foreign world. My biggest gripe though was the genuine fact that it was like a kids where’s Waldo meets National Geographic documentary, that in reality while silly is kind of sad in that only us the omnipotent reader, gets the knowledge and satisfaction of seeing and experiencing this gentle icy giant. Also why did the ending have to be so abrupt, I mean I turned a page and the story fell off a cliff essentially and ended. Visually great and a fun premise, but I wish it had a stronger story.

[ThreeSonorans Reviews]

Very beautifully illustrated with pictures with a lot more to look at, such as facial expressions in all the boat rooms (like a Where's Waldo picture with lots going on). The story is also interesting, showing the scientific method and how the search for knowledge takes a lot of work and time!

[madame Gabrielle]

je m’attendais à plus quant à l’histoire, mais les illustrations sont très très jolies.

[Emilie | La prof de français]

Magnifique album, les illustrations sont superbes! Thomas et moi avons adoré ce livre. On n’arrêtait pas de dire, eh oh elle est là la méduse!!

[Victoria Robert]

Stunning graphics (with adorable details on each page), great story and overall amazing read for children (and all ages honestly)! You can tell this book was make with love! 💙💙💙

[Capn]

Great visuals, realistically disappointing scientific expedition complete with 'cabin fever' setting in. Would have liked more tech involvement/failures (sonar pinging off the icebergs and not the jellyfish, for example), and a storm or whiteout or two. But can't have it all.
A good one for young readers who like highly detailed illustrations (The Complete Brambly Hedge is another good one for that, specifically 'The Secret Stair', and even Blackall's 'Hello Lighthouse' is pretty good on this front, or maybe the maritime setting is just bringing it to mind).

[DaNae]

Lovely illustrations, okay story-telling that could have been great. I can’t help but wish glimpses of the jellyfish could be found on each page. There is nothing more fun than allowing children to feel superior to the characters in a book.

[Jessica]

I feel like I'm being hyper-critical of the books I'm reading lately, but I was disappointed with this book. The illustrations are interesting and make it seem like more of a non-fiction book, but I was disappointed that the search wasn't more successful.

[Kathryn Pearson]

Oh this deserves its illustration award, every page of it made me smile. Not least because I love jellyfish, but it was just such a delightful visual story. That bold limited colour palette, attention to detail and watercolourly magic mmm yum.

[Gloria]

I suppose I can’t love every children’s book I buy 🥲

[Javier Gil Jaime]

La il·lustració és magnifica. Veritable art.

M'ha recordat moltíssim a The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Meravellós.

🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

[Liloo]

À la limite du documentaire, cet album tout doux nous montre les rouages d'une expédition scientifique à la recherche de la méduse géante 🪼 Les illustrations sont, comme l'histoire, superbes. J'ai pris plaisir à partir à l'aventure aux côtés des scientifiques

[Laura]

Wunderschön illustriert, Protagonistin mit Doktortitel, appreciation für die Natur - alles ganz toll <3

[Sarah Corsi]

beautiful
inspiring

[steph]

the art is so calming :(

[Hannah Dillow]

Put this on hold at the library after seeing a recommendation for it. Imagine my surprise to see that it’s a children’s book! Still good but definitely not what I expected lol

[Neha S R]

A beautiful book with beautiful and fun illustrations!

[Jennifer Wadman]

Engaging scientific fiction for the win!

[Mary Stergioti]

What a beautiful illustration!
Loved thw story and the main character as well.

[Krista]

An imaginative read that will promote exploring and wanting to learn more.

[Boekenpearls76 JN Kingma Postma]

Recensie van:

Dr. Morley’s Noordpool expeditie

Auteur  :

Chloe Savage

Oorspronkelijke titel:

The search for the giant jellyfish

Vertaald uit het Engels door:

Loes Randazzo

Wijze van lezen:

Recensie-exemplaar ontvangen van uitgeverij Randazzo in ruil voor mijn recensie.

Uitgeverij: Randazzo

Genre: jeugdboek

Cover en flaptekst:

 Een schitterende cover: sneeuw, ijsschotsen, een boot in de verte. Een vrouw die zoekend over het water tuurt een hand boven haar ogen. Links de kop van een reusachtige kwal. Lief dat pootje of vin boven water zo van hier ben ik achter je!

Op de achterflap gaat de illustratie door met nog drie personen met verrekijkers. Iemand met de arm omhoog. Een ijsbeer die ook in de verte tuurt. Een levendige en interessante flaptekst die tot lezen uitnodigt.

Quote:

 

Mooie tekst:

 

Het verhaal:

Dr. Morley bereidt zich samen met haar team voor op een ontdekkingstocht, een expeditie, op zoek naar de gigantische Noordpoolkwal. Alle voorbereidingen en inspanningen ten spijt vangen ze zelfs geen glimp op van het beest. Net als ze besluit op te geven…. ziet ze daar iets bewegen?

Mijn leesbeleving samen met dochter Femke:

Wat een mooi verhaal is dit. Als je het boek opendoet zie je het prachtige binnenwerk met de diverse kleuren blauw met de witte ijsschotsen boven en onder water. Femke en ik bekeken geïnteresseerd de mooie rijk geïllustreerde landkaart. Met daarop in een rode cirkel het gebied waar Dr. Morley op expeditie gaat. Daaromheen de andere landen. Fascinerend en gegarandeerd lang kijkplezier. Het had Femke haar interesse want dit jaar in groep 5 gaat ze ook leren over waar landen nu eigenlijk liggen op de landkaart.

Naast de geïllustreerde pagina’s met tekst zijn er ook zonder tekst. Prima te gebruiken om je kind te laten vertellen wat hij of zij ziet. Bijvoorbeeld het hele expeditie team in vol ornaat staand voor de boot omgeven door sneeuw en ijs. Je voelt gewoon de kou in je botten sijpelen. Dan een pagina met de kleding en voorwerpen die op zo’n expeditie nodig zijn. Leerzaam en interessant.

De illustraties brengen de tekst naar een hoger niveau. Geven het nog meer gevoel en indruk mee. En iedere pagina laat weet wat anders zien. Door geconcentreerd te kijken leer en zie je veel. Een wereld die je niet iedere dag ziet. Met dieren die je misschien alleen kent van tv of achter de tralies in een dierentuin.

De gedrevenheid en de passie van Dr. Morley en haar team worden prima overgebracht op de lezer. De vele dwarsdoorsnedes, de boven en onderwereld zo tastbaar en mooi in beeld gebracht. De gegarandeerde grinnik momenten van wat je op de pagina’s ziet en wel wil uitschreeuwen naar het team. Om er vervolgens achter te komen dat de personen slechts op papier bestaan.

Zo waren we meegenomen in de leef en werkomgeving van Dr. Morley en haar team dat fantasie en werkelijkheid vervagen. Onze conclusie een prachtig, rijk geïllustreerd en levensecht leerzaam boek. Met tevens een soort van bewustwording. Koester onze aarde met al haar natuur schatten en haar dieren. Hun leefwereld houdt deze in ere door lief te zijn voor het klimaat. Niet alleen voor onszelf en onze kinderen maar ook voor de vele generaties die nog volgen.

Wij lezen en recenseren in de toekomst graag meer boeken van Chloe Savage. Wat een talent in woord en beeld. Magnifiek.

Mijn mening:

Ik geef 5 sterren

Een rijk geïllustreerd, leerzaam verhaal. Met pagina’s zonder tekst die je kunt uitnodigen om te vertellen wat het ziet. Om als ouder aan te vullen als je kind daarom vraagt. De illustraties die de tekst naar een hoger niveau tillen.

Een aanrader dit boek. Voor jong en oud genieten.

[Jacey]

This book is about a scientist, Dr. Morley, who is embarking on an adventure to the North Pole to find the giant Arctic jellyfish. She goes on a boat with her research team, and for months they search to find the giant jellyfish. They see narwhals, beluga whales, and orca, but no giant jellyfish. The crew begins to miss home, but they stick with Dr. Morley. They finally have hope whenever they see algae, which the jellyfish must be enjoying, but sadly they do not see the jellyfish and decide to turn back. As they are leaving, Dr. Morley looks back and sees the giant jellyfish.

I liked this book. I thought it was a very detailed story, especially for a children's book, but it isn't too deep for children to understand. The illustrations were very thoughtful, especially with the jellyfish being on each page, but just out of sight of the characters. I really like how the author mentioned the amount of research and effort it took Dr. Morley to fulfill her dream, and I feel like that is a good lesson for children to hear.

This would definitely be a good book to have in an elementary classroom. One lesson idea that I have for this book is to read it to get students interested in research and encourage their curiosity. Then I would have them research something that they are interested in, or a dream that they have, and give a presentation about it.

[chronic_dino]

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed a lot about this but it ended very abruptly with what I feel like was an ambiguous ending that I wasn’t expecting and left a lot of questions for me (and I think the kids in my life would feel similar).

I really enjoyed the art here, especially the cut away illustrations of the ship that showed all the crew and members of the team working and living on board. I appreciated that the team was presented as diverse as science is for everyone. I also thought this was a great book for learning about science and the hard work involved- and how we don’t always find what we’re looking for but sometimes we learn about other things and build relationships with our team along the way.

I just really struggled with the ending. It was just so abrupt that until I looked up reviews I thought my digital copy from the library might be missing a couple of pages. I felt like I was left feeling like I wasn’t sure what I meant to take away from this, and what the author intended. I realise this was probably intentional but I didn’t expect it from a picture book like this and it threw me off a lot.

(I will say I in general dislike ambiguous endings in adult fiction as well so other readers might have different feelings! The ending just really didn’t work for me personally.)

[Bethany]

A group of scientists led by Dr. Morely travel north in search of the giant arctic jellyfish. Dr. Morely loves all things jellyfish. She's always heard talk of the giant arctic jellyfish but nobody has actually seen it. So, with a sturdy crew, she begins her exploration of the depths of the arctic waters. She and the crew traverse harsh climates to find proof of this myth's existence. But as time passes, their situation isn't looking great and there isn't any sign of this giant jellyfish. However, Dr. Morely isn't ready to give up.

THE SEARCH FOR THE GIANT ARCTIC JELLYFISH teaches children about exploring and the joys that come with following your dreams. The illustrations are absolutely stunning with the amount of detail that was put into them. One of the pictures shows the inside of the boat with its machinery and different rooms. This book captures the beauty of the ocean and its inhabitants and it's one to share with children who are fascinated but its depths like Dr. Morely. We need more adventurous people who are passionate about what they do.


Final Verdict: I would recommend this to children who love exploration, adventure, and the ocean. While encouraging children to follow their dreams, it also shows them the magic that's hidden within the dark ocean surface.

[Roben]

Do you love jellyfish? I love jellyfish - and so does Dr. Morley. And she wants to find one of the most elusive jellyfish ever - the Giant Arctic Jellyfish. I'm not sure there is a Giant Arctic Jellyfish. There is a species of Lion's Mane Jellyfish that lives in the Arctic. And they are pretty big! Ten foot long tentacles; two feet in diameter. That's a pretty big jellyfish! Fortunately, Dr. Morley has invited us along on her quest. We will see narwhals and belugas and orcas and if you look very carefully, a polar bear! We also get to see what her crew is doing on the ship because the illustrations are amazing! They show the boat cut in half so you can see what is going on inside the ship! The top half of the page is above water and the bottom half is below so that you can look for the elusive jellyfish also. I bet you will find it! And a snowman, too.
The book definitely displays the enthusiasm and determination someone can have when they are searching for something elusive. But it also lets readers search for all kinds of fun things among the illustrations. This is a book that will be pored over to see what new details emerge upon closer inspection.

[Sue.the.very.busy.reader]

I've been meaning to share The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish with you for a while now—and wow, what a gem! 🪼✨
First, a shoutout to whoever recommended it to me (I wish I remembered who!)—thank you! The illustrations are absolutely STUNNING. Seriously, how did this book not win all the awards?? It had been sitting on our shelf, just waiting for the perfect moment—and this week, it finally clicked. I'm a bit old-fashioned in our homeschool preschool (yes, we still do a "Letter of the Week" 📚), and this book was perfect for J is for Jellyfish. I'll be honest—some of the story went over my three-year-olds' heads, but we had the BEST time playing “I Spy” with the Giant Arctic Jellyfish hiding on every page. 🕵️‍♀️🪼 They were completely captivated! My 8-year-old grandson, who's with us for the summer, really enjoyed it too. He was drawn into the expedition, fascinated by Dr. Morley’s passion and persistence in her search for the elusive jellyfish. To wrap it all up, we made our own translucent jellyfish using clear glue and watercolors, and added them to our Alphabet Books. 💙🌊
I highly recommend this one for both the art and the adventure!

[Lynn]

Dr. Morley has always yearned to discover the truth about the fable of the Giant Arctic Jellyfish. Is it real or just a lovely sailor's yarn? While this scientific journey is an imaginary tale, much about such a research effort is true. As Dr. Morley and her crew search the Arctic seas they encounter Narwhals, a pod of Belugas, freezing temperatures, monotony, frustration and even a Polar Bear. And, of course, there is something under the water all the time that trails the scientists.

Chloe Savage's intricate whimsical illustrations reveal a cutaway view of the research vessel from top to bottom. The scientists and crew, clad in matching red and white sweaters, go about their tasks in labs, engine rooms, kitchens and bathrooms or out on ice flows and scuba diving into the icy seas. Each page is a delight, filled with small touches of humor that reward careful perusing. The book is one of those delightful gems that provides more each time it is read.

This is a joyful ode to exploration, it's disappointments and rewards and to the magic of imagination.

[Stace]

The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish is an absolute joy of a book that is both beautiful and amusing.

We meet Dr Morley and her crew who have sailed to the North Pole to find and research the Giant Arctic Jellyfish. Dr Morley has wanted to discover the jellyfish for years and now she has the best chance as she has the best equipment and crew. However, the jellyfish is more cunning than the doctor ever imagined.

I adored this book. I did wonder if it was based on real events when I began but with no mention at the back about a real expedition it must just be a story, though there really is a Giant Arctic Jellyfish.

The pages are filled with adorable images that feature the crew and many different animals found in the arctic, and usually a jellyfish hiding under or behind something. The jellyfish made me giggle as she teased the crew to her whereabouts.

Overall, The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish is an incredible book. It has a calming, wintery, magical feel to it and was such a delight to read.