Monster Sharks: Megalodon and Other Giant Prehistoric Predators of the Deep

This book is about 1 1/2" thick, but the actual pages are about 1/2" thick. It is a nice book with great pictures and a lot of information about sea creatures that lived long ago.The Megalodon Skeleton which is included with no apparent directions( I found them later at the end of the book, when the model is in the front!) The pieces did not go together easily and my 5 yr. old grandson got very frustrated at the model falling apart when touched. I finally super glued the whole thing together. You are then left with an inch of cardboard with no purpose except to take up room in your bookcase! I'm in the process now of taking that apart. Nice book, but bad packaging.

As I expected. Thanks!!

‘Monster Sharks: Megalodon and Other Giant Prehistoric Predators of the Deep’ is an interesting introduction to prehistoric sea creatures, providing facts and speculations about their lives based on fossils that have been discovered. The book begins with an overview of the three eras the animals lived in before focusing on various types: Megalodon and other prehistoric sharks, Dunkleosteus and other placoderms, Temnodontosaurus and other ichthyosaurs, Elasmosaurus and other plesiosaurs, Kronosaurus and other pliosaurs, Tylosaurus and other mosasaurs, Livyatan and other prehistoric whales, and an overview of other prehistoric sea monsters. Finally there is some information about modern sea monsters and a glossary.My favourite facts were:“T. rex weighed about the same as an African male elephant. But experts think that Megalodon might have weighed about the same as ten elephants!”“Dunkleosteus had an impressive skill. It could open and close its enormous jaws in a fraction of a second. This was so fast that it created a vacuum that pulled its prey (along with plenty of water) into its mouth.”“Its eyes are thought to be the largest eyes of any animal - ever. They were almost the size of dinner plates!” [this quote is about Temnodontosaurus]“Kronosaurus [KRONE-oh-SAWR-us] is a pliosaur named after Kronos, a thoroughly nasty Greek god who swallowed all of his children. (Don’t worry, they turned out fine.)”“Like a snake, Tylosaurus had a double-hinged jaw.”“The name Livyatan comes from the Hebrew spelling of Leviathan, a biblical sea monster.”“Its neck was about three to four times the length of an adult giraffe’s! It made up about half of its body length and contained more than seventy bones.” [this quote is about Elasmosaurus who looks suspiciously liked the Loch Ness monster but apparently isn’t]I liked the conversational tone of the writing and the comparisons made between animals or objects kids would recognise and the size and weight of the prehistoric creatures described in the book. The length of each animal is illustrated against a coast guard lifeboat. Similar books I’ve read have compared animals to the height of an average adult; as a kid I would have found it easier to imagine an animal’s size if I was using a person as the comparison rather than a boat. Even now I appreciated the pronunciation help for some of the more unusual names.The illustrations are detailed and the layout is interesting and varied. Photos are also used where possible to show fossils and animals children will be familiar with. A lot of the illustrations feature animals about to eat other animals or engaged in fights, which may be scary for some readers. Occasionally the white writing was difficult to read when it was against a pale background but I read this ARC on an iPad so this may have been fixed prior to publication.I imagine I would have gotten a good grade if I’d used this book to research a school project and it’s the type of book I would still borrow from the library because you can never know enough cool facts about Megalodon and its meals. I definitely need to check out the Megalodon skeleton that comes with this book (instructions for assembling it are included - whew!).Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - becker&mayer! kids for the opportunity to read this book.

What can I say? I live with two little boys who love dinosaurs, monsters and prehistoric sea creatures. This book is exactly the kind of thing I would (and have) given them for various holidays, checked out at the library for them, or that they would select at their school book fair. There is something so compelling about creatures that roamed the earth (or, in this case, the sea) long before people were a blink in evolution’s eye.The illustrations are realistic and stunning, so life-like they could be artistic photographs. Personally, I’m much more drawn to prehistoric sea creatures than dinosaurs, and this book did not disappoint. Jam-packed with facts about a variety of ancient sea “monsters”, this book is a fun and informative read for kids and parents alike.Note: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.

Monster Sharks Megalodon and Other Giant Prehistoric Predators of the Deep by Brenda Gurr is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. Oh my Gosh! This book is so awesome if you are a super monster geek like I am! What is scarier than Jaws? Just about everything in this book! I love it. I love prehistoric predators, especially in the water...that makes them so much creepier! This tells you all about them and good ol' Megalodon is there but so is all his freaky friends. I think some of his friends are worse than he is!The illustrations are super terrific!!! They are so life like and that makes the book even better! I do plan on getting this book! I never really grew up ;)

This book has great illustrations and excellent text describing huge, extinct predators of the sea. While the title references sharks, and about half the book is about sharks, extinct sea reptiles and mammals are also included. Quite the rogues gallery of ancient sea monsters.In addition there is an intro about the geological periods in question and a glossary at the end. Overall, the book is surprisingly informative given the space set aside for the illustrations. The critters are compared in illustration to a Coast Guard ship, which helps set the scale for the reader.Should be a good read for the target 8-12 year old who likes things that chomp.I received a copy for review from the publisher, but will likely order copies as gifts.

Great book, 7 year old loved it!The build was a bit hard and kept on falling apart

I was a little disappointed to discover that the greater part of the book was actually just packaging for a plastic model but the actual information part looks good.