Everything You Know about Sharks Is Wrong! - by Nick Crumpton (Hardcover)

About the Book

Do you know all there is to know about sharks? They're mean, they all look the same, and the world doesn't need them, right? Well, this book is here to show you that you're WRONG! But don't worry, even the experts can't be right all the time. From fascinating fishy friendships to incredible powers of invisibility, discover how everything you think you know is actually untrue in this book which debunks many common myths about all kinds of sharks.

Book Synopsis

Shark fans will quickly become shark experts with this informative, inventive and entertaining take on an animal book!

Do you know all there is to know about sharks? They're all giant, cold-blooded creatures that enjoy eating humans, right? Well, this book is here to show you that you're WRONG! But don't worry, even the experts can't be right all the time . . . So, let's uncover the truth! From terrifying teeth to brilliant brain power, discover how everything you think you know about sharks is actually untrue in this in-depth, ingenious book. With fascinating, friendly, and easy-to-understand text written by zoologist Dr. Nick Crumpton and amazingly detailed color artwork on every page, this beautifully produced hardcover gift book with a stunning tactile cover will impress shark fans of any age. Also available in this series: Everything You Know About Dinosaurs is Wrong!

Review Quotes

Here's the perfect book for Shark Week from the team that brought you Everything You Know About Dinosaurs is Wrong! Tween shark aficionados will tell you that sharks are misunderstood, but they need this book to provide the ammunition needed to disabuse those who don't understand sharks of their misconceptions! In the process of addressing various wrongly held ideas, each two page rebuttal to commonly held beliefs (sharks eat people!) offers a lot of information about things that are true about sharks. Where they live, different types, what they eat, and even statistics on various deadly creatures add to the general knowledge about sharks and amuse avid readers. There's a great glossary at the back of the book, as well as a much needed index.

Good Points
Not only does this book have a wealth of printed information, but the illustrations also provide a lot of helpful material. I love that there is so much blue in the backgrounds; it makes the pictures of sharks look like they are swimming. It also makes it a little harder to read the smaller fonts on the pages, but younger readers won't notice this as much as I did.

I can't say that I was all that frightened of sharks, since they are about as unlikely to show up in my yard as I am to show up on the beach, but now I am a little concerned about cows, who apparently killed 22 people in 2021!

Readers who like sharks often swim towards nonfiction books like Littleboy's How It Works: Sharks or Silen's Can't Get Enough Shark Stuff, but I love to pair nonfiction with fiction books on the same topic. This is perfect for readers who are enjoying Márquez's Swimming With Sharks, Monninger's The Great White Shark, Spradlin's Into the Killing Seas or Northrop's Surrounded by Sharks!

--Karen Yingling, Ya books Central

Zoologist Nick Crumpton and illustrator Gavin Scott follow their Everything You Know About Dinosaurs Is Wrong!--the first installment in the Everything You Know About series--with a mesmerizing dive into the world of the oft-maligned shark. Crumpton structures the work around common myths about the shark and its close relatives, the ray and the skate. Scott supports the fascinating text with naturalistic art that faithfully re-creates the animals described. The result is a spellbinding picture book for middle-grade readers that corrects the record on a highly misunderstood creature.
Sharks have existed for millions of years, and there are several fallacies associated with them: these vicious killers (actually, they kill fewer people than cows) serve no purpose (except being "one of THE most important animals in the world's oceans") and are stupid (even though some species exhibit curiosity, and others contemplate future events). As Crumpton dispels myth after myth, he highlights multiple species of shark and illuminates amazing characteristics, like the sharks that can clone themselves through parthenogenesis: "When some female sharks can't find a mate but choose to have a baby, they grow one using only their own DNA."
Scott's realistic illustrations dazzle with their intense detail, showing texture and the distinctive characteristics of each species, such as long snouts and large crests. Every page features sharks up close as well as in their natural habitats, adding to the overall awe of this reading experience. Shark lovers, future marine biologists, and anyone who thinks they know everything about sharks should find Everything You Know About Sharks Is Wrong! engaging, entertaining, and enlightening. (Starred)

--Jen Forbus, Shelf Awareness

"Scott's realistic illustrations dazzle with their intense detail, showing texture and the distinctive characteristics of each species, such as long snouts and large crests. Every page features sharks up close as well as in their natural habitats, adding to the overall awe of this reading experience. Shark lovers, future marine biologists, and anyone who thinks they know everything about sharks should find Everything You Know About Sharks Is Wrong! engaging, entertaining, and enlightening."

--Jen Forbus, Shelf Awareness

About the Author

Dr Nick Crumpton (Author)
Dr. Nick Crumpton grew up in the UK on a diet of David Attenborough documentaries and hand-me-down Sega games before studying ecology at Leeds University.

With a PhD in Zoology from the University of Cambridge, he has worked at the BBC Natural History Unit, the Zoological Society of London (on venomous mammals and Indonesian biodiversity), and University College London, where he occasionally teaches. He now works at the Natural History Museum in London, England.

Gavin Scott (Illustrator)
Gavin Scott was born in Salisbury, England. He grew up in the Dorset countryside where, as a young child, he was often found covered in mud at the bottom of the garden, holding up a grass snake or some other interesting creature to draw. Gavin studied Natural History Illustration in college and later went on to enter the world of character design and children's illustration. He lives with his family in Somerset, England.