I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kids who love sharks will love this cool book. Lost of facts and lots of pictures.

This was very informative! My son is very much into sharks, and we had a nice time reading through this. Thank you for the opportunity to read the title.

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.

With annual shark weeks, kids have become very interested in sharks and this book is perfect for them. Lots of great pictures and information make this an excellent addition to any library.

Monster Sharks by Brenda Gurr looks at several classes of aquatic prehistoric beasties. Megalodon and other ancient sharks are first, followed by prehistoric plated fishes like Dunkleosteus, aquatic reptiles like Icthyosaurus, plesiosaurs like Elasmosaurus, and pliosaurs like Tylosaurus. Last are early whales like Livyatan. The final section discusses modern sea monsters. My cubs and I read this book together. I learned some new things too, like the recategorisation of Megalodon to a different class than carcharodon. We all enjoyed learning about other ancient sharks, and all the other sea critters. A great addition to any dino-lover's library!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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 ;)

Much like the other book in this publisher's series, this gets four stars, and a bit of wonderment at how a female writer could be completely au fait with discussing her subject in such a masculine manner. This is for the young fan who wants everything about his extinct animals to be butch – the fiercest teeth, the strongest swimmers, the largest biters and so on. Nothing is worthy for inclusion if it can't measure up well against a Coast Guard boat. Still, these books clearly aren't the only ones to hook the young scientist in by the superlative, and the look is pretty decent as well, so this is an attractive package. (I can't say anything about the make-your-own megalodon, this being an e-arc.)

Oh my goodness! All things sharks! Interested in getting more about some sharks that are no longer around? This book has so many awesome creatures! My kids and I enjoyed reading this one together!

Any inquisitive shark-obsessed young mind will meet its match in this beautifully illustrated and informative picture book. I would definitely recommend this one.

‘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.

5★
"FAST FACT: The giant squid probably inspired the kraken, a sea monster from Nordic folklore."
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

See the silhouettes at the bottom of the picture? I mean really really see them? Do you realise how big that bl**dy thing is? Gheesh!

This is a book for all those kids who love memorising things and scaring grown-ups with Ripley's Believe It Or Not facts. And when they hear about a movie about a kraken, they'll wave this in front of some unsuspecting old lady and shout "See! I TOLD you they were real!"

Here's a handsome fellow. Fellow? I wouldn't know, and I'd never get close enough to check.
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]
The Megalodon, now of movie fame as "The Meg"

The book starts 640 million years ago. Yes, million, with some handy timelines to explain the various eras. The Megalodon is illustrated in the middle of the Cenozoic.
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

More Meg - the size:
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

Even Nessie gets a look-in.
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

Kids will be looking for the terror of the seas we know as the Great White Shark. Of course, after seeing the size of the Megalodon, today's monster doesn't measure up to the boat silhouette quite as impressively.
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

There are illustrations of fossils and other creatures:
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

And a handy glossary:
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

This is not a pretty little coral reef and clown fish coffee table book, but HEY, THERE'S MORE! There's a kit to piece together your own skeleton.
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration.]

This is one I bet kids will love, bright colours, big teeth and all. And a lot of kids will learn these facts and enjoy testing the patience of their teachers and families with "Hey, did you know that . . . ?"

And isn't that the whole point? Keep them curious, keep them wanting to know more. These readers are tomorrow's leaders. (I live in hope.)

It's a good companion to Jurassic Giants: T. Rex and Other Prehistoric Predators, which I also reviewed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing/Becker & Mayer Kids books for the preview copy of this one that I can't wait to show the grandkids!

I knew when I saw this, I had to get it for my 7-year-old who is obsessed with Megalodon. He loved it! The images are super bright and colorful, providing great visuals for the various animals throughout the various time periods. This book was not only fun for him to read, but it also provided so many unique facts. I wish I had the actual book so that he could build the model that comes with it.
If you know a child who loves sharks, this would make a wonderful Christmas gift!

What a fantastic, interactive and engaging non-fiction title!
This book is interesting and the illustrations are true to life.
The information is provided in a fun way, a way that children are going to enjoy reading.

Prehistoric sharks have never been so alive as in this new non-fiction book by Brenda Gurr. Including colorful and vivid illustrations, fun facts, and lots of good details, children will be fascinated by sharks more than ever before. Completing the work is a helpful glossary. The perfect Christmas gift for dinosaur and shark enthusiasts.

The pros:
- a lot of information (some of it was even new to me)
- a cool variety of animals depicted
- the physical version comes with a 3D megalodon puzzle for kids to put together!

The cons:
- the CGI artwork used varies from "okayish" to laughably bad—some images honestly looked like something out the late 90s, not 2018
- most of the artwork is focused so heavily on showing the dinosaurs eating other dinosaurs, complete with half-eaten carcasses floating in the water—something a lot of kids on the younger end of the target age range are going to be upset by and/or scared of

Would I add it to my son's library? Probably not.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This one sets a different tone than the Jurassic Giants entry right from the beginning, describing the first animals on Earth as “Probably weren’t a lot of fun at parties.” Thankfully it did keep things less serious than that other book.
Megalodon takes center stage, of course. Described as torpedo-like for its speed, it was big and strong enough to take down whales. I’ve seen the skeletons, but that fact brings its size into better perspective.
Fork Tail, Sharp Nose, Ironing Board. . . and you thought Hammerhead was weird.
There’s some nice bits of trivia, particularly the possible inspiration for a famous maritime tongue-twister.
My main complaint with the Jurassic Giants book was its dry lecturing tone. This one inadvertently addresses that, being much more conversational. But even though this has more fun stuff to it, eventually all the info makes it feel overwhelming. Still really good, especially the artwork.
There’s a glossary and instructions for making your own giant prehistoric shark, not to scale.

Just when you thought it was safe to open the book. This is the perfect read for anyone, big or small, who loves the kings of the sea. From the Meg to the Killer White, this book is a fact filled joyous read. Perfect for everyone and ideal for Christmas.

Incredibly detailed illustrations, including in depth details pertaining to each. Every acre bracket will enjoy this book, to be treasured and enjoyed time and time again. If this interests you, make sure to check out Jurrasic Giants as well. Both would make a welcome gift to any child’s library.

The author does an excellent job comparing these pre-historic creatures to animals as well as items that students today can relate to and understand. They even have a "build your own megalodon" set included which we all know our kiddos will love! This is definitely a book that I would recommend for purchase for an elementary library.