There’s enough information to maintain your interest but not so much that you get bored or succumb to information overload. It’s the sort of book I would have used for school projects in primary school and would have enjoyed reading it just for fun as well. Besides all of the cool shark facts there are plenty of quality photographs of the various sharks and the layout is eye catching. While there’s plenty to look at on each page it doesn’t look overly cluttered.

Of the over 400 types of shark, Creature Files: Sharks provides information and photographs of twenty. I personally learned a lot while reading this book and the facts below are only a snippet of what you’ll discover.

* Great White Shark - These sharks can have up to 300 teeth!
* Bull Shark - These are the sharks most likely to attack people and have been found with strange objects in their stomachs including licence plates!
* Mako Shark - The Fastest Shark award goes to the Mako.
* Sand Tiger Shark - A sand tiger shark in a New York aquarium lived more than twice as long as the average wild sand tiger shark.
* Nurse Shark - Nurse sharks live at the bottom of the ocean.
* Cookiecutter Shark - The bellies of these sharks glow in the dark.
* Tiger Shark - Tiger Sharks have the nickname “garbage can of the sea”.
* Greenland Shark - The Slowest Shark award goes to the Greenland Shark.
* Spiny Dogfish - These sharks have been overfished and are in danger of extinction.
* Lemon Shark - Their eyesight is poor so they need to rely on other senses to find food.
* Sawshark - Their prey include shrimp, worms and shellfish.
* Basking Shark - They form groups (schools) that can range from a couple up to 100 sharks, unlike most other sharks who are loners.
* Frilled Shark - Rarely seen alive by humans, Frilled Sharks live at the bottom of the ocean.
* Blue Shark - World travellers, these sharks swim about 1609 kilometres each year.
* Wobbegong Shark - They have flat bodies and are a type of carpet shark.
* Leopard Shark - Groups of leopard sharks are social and are known to hang out with other types of sharks.
* Great Hammerhead Shark - Their favourite food are stingrays but will also eat sharks, including other hammerheads.
* Goblin Shark - Only 50 Goblin Sharks have been seen since they were first discovered in the late 1800’s.
* Megamouth Shark - Megamouths are filter-feeders.
* Whale Shark - The Largest Fish in the Sea award goes to the Whale Shark.

Each shark file provides ‘fast facts’ which include the length of the shark and a picture showing the size comparison of that shark and a person (in feet and metres), how much the shark weighs (in pounds and kilograms) and a world map highlighting where it lives. I love that each shark file contains a Shark Bite that explains what that type of shark eats, what its teeth look like and for the majority of sharks an accompanying close up photo of its smile.

Included with the book are three replica teeth that kids can identify using their new knowledge and they can make a shark tooth necklace with the cord that’s also included. I would’ve loved wearing that necklace as a kid.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - becker&mayer! kids for the opportunity to read this book.