Denizens Of The Deep

Denizens Of The Deep

Juvenile nonfiction
People who say that space is the last frontier forget that here
on Earth we have an equally mysterious realm, the oceans. There is
probably more of the unknown than of the known therein. We ignore
these mysteries at our own peril. We have only the vaguest idea what
human activity is doing to those watery regions basically all life on
Earth relies on. Luckily the Orono Public Library has acquired two
thought provoking books for younger readers.
"With writhing arms
and ghostly, lidless eyes
they glide;
some large as buses,
some weighing a ton.
So big, yet rarely seen."
Candace Fleming's Giant Squid is Bill Nye the Science Guy meets
Stephen King in free verse. Scenes from the life of this mammoth
creature are done justice by Eric Rohmann's dynamic, dark backgrounded
paintings. We are shown a 2" long (Can you believe it?) newly hatched
giant squid and warned that
"In the ocean
it is dangerous to be bite-sized."
You see just the tip of a snout with long sharp teeth emerging from
the top left corner.
On the next two page spread a hungry barracuda is closing in on
an ocean tidbit. It seems like out pint sized protagonist will become
fish food until...
The next two pages are clouded with camoflauging ink.
Giant squids are very reclusive and elusive.
"Incredibly, we have more close-up photos of the surface of
Mars--a planet millions of miles away--than we have of giant squid.
We know more about the behavior of dinosaurs--extinct for 65 million
years--than we do a creature that resides in almost all the world's
oceans and is one of the biggest animals on the planet. So elusive is
the giant squid that the first time scientists ever saw a living one
was in 2006..."
So how did they learn what we now know?
Read the book and see.
Especially following the popularity of the movie Jaws, people
often wish for shark free oceans. Whenever a triangle shaped fin is
spotted near people infested waters panic too often ensues. Less
dangerous seas? What could be wrong with that.
A whole lot, it turns out. Lily Williams' If Sharks Disappeared
gives us some idea of possible unintended consequences.
Trophic cascade is sort of like dominos. You know how you can
make a design of them and then nudge just one to make all go down? In
a similar way, when one species is removed from the web of nature
scads of others are negatively impacted.
Sharks are apex predators. They tend to eat more sickly, weak
members of prey populations. Without sharks prey populations would
grow exponentially, causing other predator species to overprocreate...
...and that's the beginning of a horror sequence that would
scare Mr. Stephen King.
Sharks are in danger. Readers are given ways to help save
them. If Sharks Disappeared is a great book for sustainability minded
kids and families.
On a personal note, I was finally able to get oral surgery done after
years of needing it. It was faster and easier than I expected and
after I didn't even need an aspirin.
A great big shout out goes out to my new dental practice.
jules hathaway


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