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The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea
Which sea creature is the greatest? Is it the one with the most venom, the greatest diver, the one with blue blood, or the best rotating eyes? Or is it the master of disguise, the one with the best light, the most slime, or the most eggs? Fascinating facts and spectacular illustrations will inspire young readers to choose their own favorite sea creatures!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2015
1 person is currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Brenda Z. Guiberson
39 books12 followersBrenda Z. Guiberson has written many books for children, including Cactus Hotel, Spoonbill Swamp, Moon Bear and Disasters. As a child, Brenda never thought she wanted to be a writer—her dreams tended more toward jungle explorer. She graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in English and Fine Art. She started thinking about writing for children when her son went to elementary school, and she volunteered in his class and in the school library. After taking exciting trips that involved a fifty-foot cactus, hungry alligators and sunset-colored spoonbills, she wanted to create books for children that would be like a field trip. Her books are full of well-researched detail, and Brenda sees this research as an adventure—one that allows her to be a jungle explorer at last. She lives in Seattle, Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
February 1, 2022
Yes indeed, I do think that Brenda Z. Guiberson generally does a sufficiently adequate job textually introducing and describing the thirteen specific ocean animals featured in her 2015 non-fiction picture book The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea, albeit that in my opinion, Guiberson should most definitely also be showing and within the text proper of The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea which of her thirteen chosen species are at present endangered (and why), that Blue Whales are mammals and that squid and octopuses are extremely intelligent and possess mental problem solving skills similar to our own.
However, I do tend to find Brenda Z. Guiberson having the thirteen ocean animals of The Most Amazing Creature of the Sea introduce themselves in the first person and also kind of wanting and asking readers/listeners to seemingly vote for the most awesome, to choose the supposedly most amazing sea creature both more than a bit silly in and of itself and also just a trifle problematic. For in my opinion, the ocean and its myriad of creatures are not there for children, for anyone in fact to engage in some kind of popularity contest, and while I am of course glad that Brenda Z. Guiberson has actually not ended The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea with one of her thirteen presented ocean animal species being put on a pedestal so to speak, that she does encourage children to seemingly pick and choose a favourite, a most amazing creature of the sea, well, personally, I really do find this rather majorly problematic. Because ALL ocean animals are amazing, ALL ocean animals are important and any suggestions that some might be better or more amazing than others is in fact and in my humble opinion treading on a very, on an extremely slippery slope, as it might in a worst case scenario actually encourage the unfortunate attitude that some ocean animals are perhaps far more worthy of protection than others.
And even though I do consider The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea a pretty good basic introduction to the thirteen ocean animals Brenda Z. Guiberson has chosen, am very much impressed that the included bibliography is not only quite detailed but also features websites and that visually, aesthetically I really do absolutely adore Genaddy Spirin’s lushly descriptive and colourful accompanying artwork (but with the small caveat that some of the illustrations, although totally realistic, might perhaps visually be a bit potentially creepy for very sensitive readers or listeners), well, the textual issues (mentioned above) that I have personally encountered with Brenda Z. Guiberson’s printed words, with her narrative and that I simply do not consider it very prudent and appropriate to have anyone be choosing a most amazing ocean animal, yes, this does mean that for me The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea cannot and will not be ranking higher than three stars maximum.
However, I do tend to find Brenda Z. Guiberson having the thirteen ocean animals of The Most Amazing Creature of the Sea introduce themselves in the first person and also kind of wanting and asking readers/listeners to seemingly vote for the most awesome, to choose the supposedly most amazing sea creature both more than a bit silly in and of itself and also just a trifle problematic. For in my opinion, the ocean and its myriad of creatures are not there for children, for anyone in fact to engage in some kind of popularity contest, and while I am of course glad that Brenda Z. Guiberson has actually not ended The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea with one of her thirteen presented ocean animal species being put on a pedestal so to speak, that she does encourage children to seemingly pick and choose a favourite, a most amazing creature of the sea, well, personally, I really do find this rather majorly problematic. Because ALL ocean animals are amazing, ALL ocean animals are important and any suggestions that some might be better or more amazing than others is in fact and in my humble opinion treading on a very, on an extremely slippery slope, as it might in a worst case scenario actually encourage the unfortunate attitude that some ocean animals are perhaps far more worthy of protection than others.
And even though I do consider The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea a pretty good basic introduction to the thirteen ocean animals Brenda Z. Guiberson has chosen, am very much impressed that the included bibliography is not only quite detailed but also features websites and that visually, aesthetically I really do absolutely adore Genaddy Spirin’s lushly descriptive and colourful accompanying artwork (but with the small caveat that some of the illustrations, although totally realistic, might perhaps visually be a bit potentially creepy for very sensitive readers or listeners), well, the textual issues (mentioned above) that I have personally encountered with Brenda Z. Guiberson’s printed words, with her narrative and that I simply do not consider it very prudent and appropriate to have anyone be choosing a most amazing ocean animal, yes, this does mean that for me The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea cannot and will not be ranking higher than three stars maximum.
August 9, 2022
نقاشیش خوب بود
اطلاعات خوبی هم راجع به جانواران دریایی میداد برای بچهها کتاب خوبیه
اطلاعات خوبی هم راجع به جانواران دریایی میداد برای بچهها کتاب خوبیه
December 19, 2021
عنوان ترجمهٔ فارسی: من شگفتانگیزترین جانور دریا هستم!
September 30, 2017
No doubt about it, this book contains a lot of amazing sea creatures! Guiberson did an excellent job of selecting animals with unique properties and abilities. I was thinking " wow! " at every one. My vote for the most amazing, I think, goes to the box jellyfish, because I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it has "no brain, no blood, no backbone, and no lungs or gills," and yet is one of the deadliest creatures in the sea. I also have to say that the hagfish is one of the ugliest! Gennady Spirin's beautiful illustrations are as good as photographs at showing us these animals. I was pleased to read Guiberson's author's note at the end, in which she points out how important each of these amazing creatures is to the overall ecology and balance of life in the ocean. This is one of the best children's books I've read on undersea life. Highly recommended!
October 10, 2022
با حیوانات جالبی آشنا شدم :))
July 20, 2015
Fabulously detailed underwater portraits of some of the biggest, most deadly, or flat-out weirdest creatures in the sea. Gennady Spirin's murky tempera, watercolor and pencil art recalls murky Dutch Renaissance still life paintings, and deserves a place alongside the similarly outrageous naturalist work of Ernst Haeckel and Maria Sybilla Meriam. Yep. I will go that far.
February 12, 2015
With illustrations that we both draw in kids and even creep them out a bit, and text that will have kids debating exactly who is the Most Amazing Creature in the Sea, Guiberson & Spirin have a book that will appeal to children. I love that the text can be used as a mentor text for writing.
July 27, 2018
This is such a fun book!! I enjoyed the sea creatures that were highlighted. The only problem is my mom said it scares her kindergarten kids. That is understandable though because anglerfish are creepy. Really well done though!
October 3, 2015
This is the kind of book you could use with k-5 students--for different purposes. Guiberson, one of my go-to authors, writes well with a clear purpose. In this book, she describes how each of several sea creatures is amazing. As I read, I kept gasping aloud at the almost fantastical details that are included. For example, the male angler fish attaches itself to the female with his teeth and then his skin fuses to the female's and they become one. The male loses its eyes and the female sees for both of them. WILD. Each description of an animal ends with "That's why I am the most amazing creature in the sea!" LOVE (and don't skip when you read) the author's note at the end about how these creatures are endangered and how each one of these creatures contributes to the success of the biome or habitat--which means if any of them disappears, the whole system could be out of whack. You fall in love with these creatures when you read about them - and then when you read the author's note, you want to ACT.
I'd read this aloud in k-2nd and get it in the hands of 3rd-5th grade students for independent reading. Or I'd use this as a read aloud in any of these grades to launch a study on ocean life and conservation. Or I'd use it as a mentor text for writing workshop. All sorts of writing could be launched - opinion pieces, more research on one of the animals featured, research into conservation and so forth. Guiberson's design of this book could serve as a format for a class book. Guiberson has several books and would be worthy of an author study focus as well. Lots of potential in the classroom.
I'd read this aloud in k-2nd and get it in the hands of 3rd-5th grade students for independent reading. Or I'd use this as a read aloud in any of these grades to launch a study on ocean life and conservation. Or I'd use it as a mentor text for writing workshop. All sorts of writing could be launched - opinion pieces, more research on one of the animals featured, research into conservation and so forth. Guiberson's design of this book could serve as a format for a class book. Guiberson has several books and would be worthy of an author study focus as well. Lots of potential in the classroom.
June 30, 2015
From the eye-catching cover of an anglerfish and the book's title, readers might be excused for thinking the author is going to provide the definitive answer to which sea creature is most intriguing. But she doesn't; instead, as was the case in her earlier The Greatest Dinosaur Ever, she offers a baker's dozen of amazing creatures found in the ocean's depths and then makes a case for each one of them. From the box jellyfish on the book's opening pages to the maritime helpers near the conclusion, readers will be absolutely glued to the book's pages, filled with amazing, highly-detailed illustrations rendered with tempera, watercolor and pencil. I like the way the book is designed with an "I am..." statement on the first page about the animal, then a description under a huge two-page illustration of each fascinating creature, concluding with "That's why I am the most amazing creature in the sea" (unpaged). I must confess that my favoite illustration is the one featuring the leatherback sea turtle. Amazing!
August 19, 2016
As always, the combination of the writing of Brenda Guiberson and the lush illustrationhs of Gennady Spirin create award-winning books time and time again.
In this book, very interesting, sometimes bizarre looking deep sea creatures are highlight with a description of what makes them the most amazing sea creature. The reader follows page after wonderfully detailed images of The Vampire Squid, who turns itself inside out to hide it's blackness with the added ability to create incredible bright colored lights to lure prey, the Box Jellyfish who has the deadliest venom and has no brains, backbone, lungs or gills and has 24 eyes to help find prey, and then therre is the barreleye fish who rotates their green eyes to spot prey.
There are 16 double page spreads which any curious child would find fascinating.
In this book, very interesting, sometimes bizarre looking deep sea creatures are highlight with a description of what makes them the most amazing sea creature. The reader follows page after wonderfully detailed images of The Vampire Squid, who turns itself inside out to hide it's blackness with the added ability to create incredible bright colored lights to lure prey, the Box Jellyfish who has the deadliest venom and has no brains, backbone, lungs or gills and has 24 eyes to help find prey, and then therre is the barreleye fish who rotates their green eyes to spot prey.
There are 16 double page spreads which any curious child would find fascinating.
February 23, 2017
Who is the most amazing creature in the sea? Is it the ocean sunfish who can hold up to 300 million eggs in its body? The blue whale with its tongue that weights as much as an elephant? Or the box jellyfish with its 24 eyes and deadliest venom? Each animal makes a brief case for why it is the most amazing. Each two-page spread is illustrated with life-like paintings.
This book contains interesting information written creatively from the sea creature’s point of view, but I don’t really see any use for it other than browsing: there is not enough information here for writing reports. The illustrations while beautiful are somewhat dark and hazy colored. In my mind, when it comes to animals, there is no substitute for photographs of the real thing up close and personal down to the last nitty gritty detail.
The book is listed as best for grades K-4
March 17, 2017
This book was interesting, but in a very picture book type of way. I felt like a lot more information could have been included. It didn't seem very scientific, but more or less a few sentences about each of the creatures, with an attempt to turn a few facts into a story. It would have been cool if there was a fact sheet or something, that told more specifically where these animals lived, their weight, diet, etc. Then it would have been a great research resource, instead it was just an average picture book.
March 19, 2016
Listed in CCBC Choices 2016 under Science, Technology and the Natural World. Interesting facts on sea creatures, but illustrations didn't represent text very well. (Ex. Speaking of Anglerfish and how smaller maales attached themselves and live off host fish, not shown) Dark illustrations accurately depict the depths of the ocean. Sweet spot: Grades 3-5, curriculum ocean/sea habitats
September 17, 2015
Ugh. There are so many gross, gross things in the ocean.
That being said, this book is really good. If you like gross things, and octopi, and whale sharks, turtles and blue whales. Those things are not gross, I guess.
That being said, this book is really good. If you like gross things, and octopi, and whale sharks, turtles and blue whales. Those things are not gross, I guess.
January 2, 2016
The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea is an interesting blend of informational text and argument writing, where each creature makes the case for why they should be chosen "the most amazing creature." A great mentor text!
February 1, 2016
The illustrations were lovely, as is usual for Spirin, but the text is lame, each spread sounding like a seventh grader's "vote for me" student council election speech.
July 31, 2015
Not only is the information fascinating, but Gennady Spirin's paintings are fantabulous!
Read
June 23, 2017Twin Text:
Swinburne, S. R., & Peterson, M. (2010). Ocean soup: Tide pool poems. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Rationale:
These two texts look at different animals in the ocean. The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea (Guiberson, 2015) looks at animals that may not be as well known in a narrative description format. Ocean Soup: Tide Pool Poems (Swinburne & Peterson, 2010) looks at more familiar animals in verse form with poems for each animal, often told in first person. By looking at these two books together, students could pull out a lot of information about animals and learn more about familiar and unfamiliar animals. This would be a good way to look at different animals students could chose for a research paper to move beyond the familiar. They could also use the stories together as inspiration to create poems based on the amazing creatures like they see in Ocean Soup to put the nonfiction information they learn into a different format type.
Text Structure & Text Features:
The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea is told through a descriptive narrative of each creature. It puts the name of each animal in bold to draw attention to it. It does not feature many traditional text features of nonfiction, instead using illustrations for each creature and description in first person narrative. There is a bibliography at the end of the book.
Strategy Application:
With these stories, I would start with Ocean Soup and read through the different creatures the story mentions. I would have students make a web to categorize the different creatures they learned about and characteristics of each creature (Camp, 2010). Then, we would read The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea and add new animals and their characteristics to the list. I would have them make connections with the creatures by connecting characteristics that were shared between animals on their webs. When they finish, they would take at least one creature from The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea and make a poem similar to what they see in Ocean Soup for it. Then they would add a short description of the creature based on the facts they learned.
Resource:
Camp, D. (2010, February). It takes two: Teaching with twin texts of fact and fiction. The Reading Teacher, 53(5), 400-408.
Swinburne, S. R., & Peterson, M. (2010). Ocean soup: Tide pool poems. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Rationale:
These two texts look at different animals in the ocean. The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea (Guiberson, 2015) looks at animals that may not be as well known in a narrative description format. Ocean Soup: Tide Pool Poems (Swinburne & Peterson, 2010) looks at more familiar animals in verse form with poems for each animal, often told in first person. By looking at these two books together, students could pull out a lot of information about animals and learn more about familiar and unfamiliar animals. This would be a good way to look at different animals students could chose for a research paper to move beyond the familiar. They could also use the stories together as inspiration to create poems based on the amazing creatures like they see in Ocean Soup to put the nonfiction information they learn into a different format type.
Text Structure & Text Features:
The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea is told through a descriptive narrative of each creature. It puts the name of each animal in bold to draw attention to it. It does not feature many traditional text features of nonfiction, instead using illustrations for each creature and description in first person narrative. There is a bibliography at the end of the book.
Strategy Application:
With these stories, I would start with Ocean Soup and read through the different creatures the story mentions. I would have students make a web to categorize the different creatures they learned about and characteristics of each creature (Camp, 2010). Then, we would read The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea and add new animals and their characteristics to the list. I would have them make connections with the creatures by connecting characteristics that were shared between animals on their webs. When they finish, they would take at least one creature from The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea and make a poem similar to what they see in Ocean Soup for it. Then they would add a short description of the creature based on the facts they learned.
Resource:
Camp, D. (2010, February). It takes two: Teaching with twin texts of fact and fiction. The Reading Teacher, 53(5), 400-408.
May 15, 2018
Which sea creature is the greatest? Is it the one with the most venom, the greatest diver, the one with blue blood, or the best rotating eyes? Or is it the master of disguise, the one with the best light, the most slime, or the most eggs? Fascinating facts and spectacular illustrations will inspire young readers to choose their own favorite sea creatures!
Note: This book could be used as a part of pre-school or elementary storytime. Depending on the group, you may not be able to read the entire book, but it is written in such a way that you could chose to share one or two favorite sea creatures.
Notes
Brenda Z. Guiberson is the author of many notable books for children, including The Greatest Dinosaur Ever; Frog Song ; Life in the Boreal Forest; Moon Bear; The Emperor Lays an Egg; and the bestselling Cactus Hotel . She lives near Seattle, Washington.
Gennady Spirin is the illustrator of Frog Song and Life in the Boreal Forest . He has been awarded five gold medals from the Society of Illustrators, the first prize in both the Bologna and Barcelona International Book Fairs, and has been chosen four times for the New York Times Best Illustrated Books list. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Note: This book could be used as a part of pre-school or elementary storytime. Depending on the group, you may not be able to read the entire book, but it is written in such a way that you could chose to share one or two favorite sea creatures.
Notes
Brenda Z. Guiberson is the author of many notable books for children, including The Greatest Dinosaur Ever; Frog Song ; Life in the Boreal Forest; Moon Bear; The Emperor Lays an Egg; and the bestselling Cactus Hotel . She lives near Seattle, Washington.
Gennady Spirin is the illustrator of Frog Song and Life in the Boreal Forest . He has been awarded five gold medals from the Society of Illustrators, the first prize in both the Bologna and Barcelona International Book Fairs, and has been chosen four times for the New York Times Best Illustrated Books list. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
September 23, 2024
Whoa! There are some pretty crazy creatures in the sea! It's an alien world down there. The illustrations really drive home the creepy strangeness just perfectly.
We'll see what the Littles think of it. This Granny loved it and wants to search for videos of all of the creatures on YT:
Box jellyfish
Leatherback sea turtle
Vampire squid (cool name)
Barreleye fish (has eyes in the interior of its head)
Mimic octopus
Anglerfish
Hagfish (wicked ugly)
Ocean sunfish
Whale shark
Blue whale (tongue is as heavy as an elephant)
Leafy sea dragon (very loveable)
Wolffish
Helpers: oysters, sea urchins, coral, krill, remora, wrasse, menhaden (hadn't ever heard of those last three)
I also love the last picture showing all those amazing creatures in one illustration; you can see their relative sizes to one another.
We'll see what the Littles think of it. This Granny loved it and wants to search for videos of all of the creatures on YT:
Box jellyfish
Leatherback sea turtle
Vampire squid (cool name)
Barreleye fish (has eyes in the interior of its head)
Mimic octopus
Anglerfish
Hagfish (wicked ugly)
Ocean sunfish
Whale shark
Blue whale (tongue is as heavy as an elephant)
Leafy sea dragon (very loveable)
Wolffish
Helpers: oysters, sea urchins, coral, krill, remora, wrasse, menhaden (hadn't ever heard of those last three)
I also love the last picture showing all those amazing creatures in one illustration; you can see their relative sizes to one another.
October 10, 2017
Definitely an interesting read. The illustrations in here are absolutely phenomenal. The way she takes these modern creatures and draws them in almost a prehistoric manner is awesome.
The writing is a different concept, too. Each animal gives her own argument for why she is the "most amazing creature in the sea." They boast about their best features and talents just like a kid would. However, the reader doesn't feel inundated with information at the end of the book, which would be a worry for me. The snippets are enough to give information, and short enough that the reader learns something about each animal.
Just don't Google Hagfish. I feel scarred.
The writing is a different concept, too. Each animal gives her own argument for why she is the "most amazing creature in the sea." They boast about their best features and talents just like a kid would. However, the reader doesn't feel inundated with information at the end of the book, which would be a worry for me. The snippets are enough to give information, and short enough that the reader learns something about each animal.
Just don't Google Hagfish. I feel scarred.
June 21, 2018
This is a very well written nonfiction picture book. It doesn't shy away from the gross/weird facts about real life sea creatures, but it does so in a very classy way. It's a book that would appeal to kids that like gross humor without actually containing any body function humor. The facts were kept factual but brief, but never felt anything other than thorough.
As for the illustrations: The publisher easily could have used real life picture for this book. But then it would have felt just like any other nonfiction book about sea critters (visually at least). The realistic drawings are super beautiful and add a lot to the feeling of the story.
A very solid, enjoyable experience.
As for the illustrations: The publisher easily could have used real life picture for this book. But then it would have felt just like any other nonfiction book about sea critters (visually at least). The realistic drawings are super beautiful and add a lot to the feeling of the story.
A very solid, enjoyable experience.
June 21, 2017
We read this book right before our trip to the aquarium, and it was perfect. Each page has a different extraordinary animal from the sea who pleads their case as to why they are the most amazing. They give different characteristics that they have that other animals lack, so you as the reader can make your own choice.
This would be a wonderful read aloud in any classroom, and was a wonderful bedtime read for me and my two kids!
This would be a wonderful read aloud in any classroom, and was a wonderful bedtime read for me and my two kids!
August 28, 2017
All these sea creatures tell us why they think they are The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea:
Box Jellyfish
Leatherback Sea Turtle
Vampire Squid
Barreleye Fish
Mimic Octopus
Anglerfish
Hagfish
Ocean Sunfish
Whale Shark
Blue Whale
Leafy Sea Dragon
Wolffish
A short snippet about each animal along with colorful, detailed illustrations make his picture book intriguing and engaging.
Box Jellyfish
Leatherback Sea Turtle
Vampire Squid
Barreleye Fish
Mimic Octopus
Anglerfish
Hagfish
Ocean Sunfish
Whale Shark
Blue Whale
Leafy Sea Dragon
Wolffish
A short snippet about each animal along with colorful, detailed illustrations make his picture book intriguing and engaging.
June 29, 2017
On each two-page spread with a natural-like, close picture of the unusual animal, that creature describes its unique qualities in 5-6 lines, proclaiming itself the most amazing creature in the sea. Would be difficult to choose just one. Readers are likely to search for more info on several of these.
Bluestem Nominee 2018
Bluestem Nominee 2018
July 5, 2017
Title: The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea
Author: Brenda Z. Guiberson
Lexile Level: unlisted
Pages: 32
Recommendations and Comments: A beautifully illustrated book about the most amazing creature in the sea. Which one is it? A Vampire Squid? A Hagfish? A Blue Whale? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
Stars: 5 out of 5
Reviewed by: Jamie Guardi
Author: Brenda Z. Guiberson
Lexile Level: unlisted
Pages: 32
Recommendations and Comments: A beautifully illustrated book about the most amazing creature in the sea. Which one is it? A Vampire Squid? A Hagfish? A Blue Whale? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
Stars: 5 out of 5
Reviewed by: Jamie Guardi
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February 1, 2020This book had the most beautiful illustrations. I loved how each page had a new type of creature and interesting facts about the creature. I learned a lot from this book. I think that this would be a great option for an intermediate or advanced primary student for a read to self time in class. I don't think I'd use this for a big lesson plan though.
September 21, 2017
Describes what makes an array of deep sea creatures amazing. Interesting and full of fun facts--hagfish tie themselves into knot, ocean sunfish are as heavy as rhinos, etc--but I want photos. I ended up googling a bunch of the animals.
May 15, 2017
If you ever wonder why I am afraid of the ocean, I will pass you this book. Guh.
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