Search for a Living Fossil: The Story of the Coelacanth

by Eleanor Clymer, Joan Berg Victor (Illustrator)

A fish with legs? That's what it looked like - the strange blue monster from the bottom of the sea. Scientists thought that creatures like this had died out 70 million years ago. But here it was - a living fossil! Could they find another? That's when the search began....

Genres: Nonfiction, Natural History, Science, History

126 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Eleanor Clymer (née Lowenton; January 7, 1906 – March 31, 2001), was a writer of children's books, best known for The Trolley Car Family (1947). She graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1928 with a degree in English. Between the years of 1943 and 1983 she published 58 books, including The Tiny Little House, My Brother Stevie, and Hamburgers–and Ice Cream for Dessert.

Clymer was born in New York City, the daughter of Russian immigrants. Through much of her life she was a resident of Katonah, New York and an active member of the nearby Unitarian Universalist fellowship. In 1980 she was awarded the Rip Van Winkle award by the School Library Media Specialists of Southeastern New York for outstanding contributions to children's literature.

Her son, Adam Clymer, was a journalist with The New York Times. Clymer died in 2001 at the age of 95 in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Raja99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per my review of Fossil Fish Found Alive , one of the very earliest books I remember checking out from the library was a book about coelacanths. It sparked my enthusiasm for reading, science, and ichthyology, at an early age.

I'm about 90% sure that this is the book. (I found it via Google, which even listed the nearest libraries that had it; I phoned mine and got an interlibrary loan.) The cover is slightly different from what I remember, but it's possible my library had a later edition. (It's probably more likely that my memory is faulty ;-)

I have some quibbles. The scientific results are slightly dated, but I can't blame the book for that ;-) . There are a few misleading statements about evolution, and the usual annoying eukaryotic, multicellular, and chordate biases (pages 44-45: "Though the shrimps and the insects have been quite successful as far as mere numbers go, the vertebrates can be said to be the masters of the earth."--if anyone's interested, I recommend Stephen Jay Gould's Full House as a nice antidote.)

But this is a well-written and dramatic retelling of the finding of the first and second coelacanths, with a bit at the end about finding the next few. The writing is vivid, and has a strongly positive attitude about science, and the joy of finding things out.

(Finished 2009-11-23 23:24 EST)

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story of the coelacanth, but the apologetic for evolution was unfortunate. The story was well told, but even those who believe in evolution will find the theory has changed since the presentation of some of these "facts". If we could have the well-told story separated from the evolutionary promotion this would be a five star book. Sadly, that option does not exist.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

paleontology

[Elizabeth]

One of my Scholastic book sale purchases from the 60s.

[Jessie]

Not rating, still search for that book I read at grandma's. I don't think this is it.