The Deadliest: Sea Creature

Gr 4 Up–Who’s the most dangerous creature in the sea? This book pits six contenders against one another in a game-show format: stonefish, pufferfish, box jellyfish, cone snail, blue-ringed octopus, and great white shark. Rice (Ants: Workers of the World) is concise and conversational. Each profile includes basic facts, like the animal’s size, location, and Latin name. Key vocabulary terms like “venom” and “brackish” appear in breakout boxes. Each section ends with a surprisingly cheerful, cartoon-style depiction of exactly how this particular creature could kill you. (Many shut down your nervous system with poison; some eat you.) The deaths are mildly depicted, with the deceased youths shown with X’s for eyes or floating face down. Temescu (Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars) creates full-color graphic-novel art reminiscent of the popular work of Raina Telgemeier or Kayla Miller, featuring crisp lines and expressive human and aquatic characters. The humans are mostly preteens with a variety of skin tones, but all have the same general body type. The animals are mostly realistically depicted, but with comedic touches, such as an octopus squeezing a teddy bear or a fish’s panicked expression as it is devoured. It’s not all macabre subject matter: the book includes general marine facts and tips for overcoming fear of the ocean.