We (Ellie and I!) are back with another baby book club post. Our book of choice today is a book about sharks called Sharks Teeth to Tail from Smithsonian kids. Sharks Teeth to Tail was written by Jaye Garnett with illustrations by Beatrice Tinarelli.
This book was another thrift store find, and it caught my eye because my husband loves sharks.
It also looked like a good choice to me, because I am trying to ensure that I get her a variety of books to grow up with.
I have gotten her a few princess-y books (such as one cute search and find princess book with little flaps to open to search for the crown) but I want to make sure she is exposed to nature books, planet books, science books, books about good habits, books about arts and music, and more.
I also want to be intentional about getting her plenty of math books. One of the princess books I picked up is actually a math princess book, so I’m excited for that one as well!
Back to the shark book.
Sharks Teeth to Tail is a nice sturdy book. It is full of information; this is not one of those rhyming story books with a few lines. No, this book contains precise information on shark senses, parts of a shark (first dorsal fin, pectoral fin, etc), types of shark teeth, “notable” sharks, and suggestions for helping your kids follow the spark of curiosity (such as visiting an aquarium and drawing pictures of the sharks there).
My baby daughter was actually very interested in this book. I guess the combination of pictures and colors on each page was appealing. This book does also have that texture feature, where some of the images are raised, but my daughter isn’t quite there yet on exploring textures.
I do love that this book features real pictures of different kinds of sharks, and real terms. The information is not “dumbed down.”
I actually enjoyed learning about sharks from this book too. For instance, I learned that bull sharks have a special ability to swim in fresh water as well as salt water!
I also enjoyed the book for a silly reason. The images of the different shark teeth brought back a very specific childhood memory for me in which I worked overtime to convince my dad to let me buy a shark book from the Scholastic catalog. Even though I was a reader as a kid, I didn’t care about the book at all. I wanted the tiger shark tooth necklace that came with it!
I remember my dad being pretty good at seeing through that kind of thing, but I guess in this case I wore him down because I did get that shark book and necklace.
Sharks Teeth to Tail is joining No Matter What on the favorites shelf.
