The Legendary Kraken

Have you ever seen "Pirates of the Caribbean" and wondered, "what is that giant squid that ate Jack Sparrow?"  Well you will learn what it is here.  I picked this book, Here There Be Monsters by Hp Newquist, because the kraken seemed like a myth to me and I wanted to see if it was a real monster.   This book is about the events over time involving the legendary kraken. This book starts with an amazing, suspenseful story told by a sailor the first time he saw the kraken.  The book also shows how different discoveries about the giant squid evolved over time. When the first signs of a giant squid were told by sailors, map makers were the first to pick it up.  When mapmakers made maps they put monsters on the spots where the sailors thought they saw monsters.

A Danish man named Steenstrup thought the kraken was just a giant squid.  More scientists started noticing the appearance of a squid when parts of long tentacles started floating to shore from 1870 to 1880 in Canada.  As more and more squids were floating to shore, scientists became fascinated by this sudden activity.  As it turns out, the reason the squids were showing themselves were because deep underwater currents were sweeping them up to the surface.  Meanwhile, on a beach in New Zealand, the first squid to be discovered whole was found.  The carcass was first studied by scientists and toured around the world.  In fact, just recently, the first video of a giant squid was filmed.


I think this is a VERY informative book about the squid and I learned that the giant squid is more than just a creature from a monster movie. This book shows you the history of the legendary kraken and the science behind tracking the giant squid today.