Giant Squid

Gr 4–6—It took centuries before scientists realized that there was an actual, living creature behind sailors' tales of a colossal sea monster. This introduction briefly recounts some of the legends and historical clues that led to the giant squid's identification in the 19th century before focusing on Dr. Clyde Roper, a renowned specialist on cephalopods (and coauthor) who made it his life's work to study the species; no live specimen had ever been captured or observed in its deep-sea habitat. The text describes how Roper gathered facts by autopsying the carcasses of giant squids and sperm whales (its chief predator), examining other squid species, etc.; it also outlines several expeditions he led in search of a live specimen. It was a Japanese scientist, however, who took the first photographs and filmed the first video of a living giant squid (in 2004 and 2006, respectively), and some of those images are included here. Giant Squid is clearly written, albeit loosely organized. Numerous, oddly placed sidebars with related information detract from the main text, as does the busy format; from one to three illustrations accompany the text on most pages—a jumble of mostly clear black-and-white and color photos, drawings, sketches, etc. H.P. Newquist's Here There Be Monsters: the Legendary Kraken and the Giant Squid (Houghton Harcourt, 2010) covers the same topic in more detail and mentions Roper's work, making it a better choice.—Karey Wehner, formerly at San Francisco Public Library