Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Dolphins of Shark Bay by Pamela Turner - ESSENTIAL

Turner, Pamela S. The Dolphins of Shark Bay, 80 p. Houghton Mifflin, 2013.  $19.  Content: G.  

Twenty-five years ago, the dolphins of Shark Bay, Australia, were pampered tourist attractions who wouldn’t fend for themselves, and were neglecting their babies in preference of tourist handouts and attention.  When Janet Mann arrived on the scene, she knew changes needed to be made or the dolphins would die out.  She, her team, and governments on several levels have managed to create a refuge for the dolphins, where they can still be easily seen by visitors, but where their personal interactions are more natural.  This has given Mann and other researchers a perfect place to study dolphins in depth, opening up the world to this handsome, friendly, intelligent creatures.  

I still have never read a Scientists in the Field book that I haven’t loved.  Each topic is carefully researched and the authors have skillfully related the information in a kid-friendly, but intelligent, fact-filled manner.  Instead of dwelling on scientists who have been dead forever, get this series and introduce your students to people who are still alive and doing amazing things!  

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

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