Everything you know about sharks is wrong! by Dr. Nick Crumpton, illustrated by Gavin Scott

 I was fascinated by the first book in this series, Everything you know about dinosaurs is wrong, and very excited to see the next book in the series, featuring sharks. However, while sharks are also a popular topic and I don't regret purchasing this for my picture book collection, as a reader it was a little disappointing.

It follows the same format, a single spread with a large statement above and several paragraphs explaining why this is inaccurate below, placed against the background of images of sharks and underwater scenes. Although I chose to put these books in my picture book section, they're not read-alouds due to the length of the text and I found it hard to decipher the light font against the colored backgrounds. Statements that are refuted include "There's no point to sharks," Sharks only live in tropical oceans," and "Sharks all look the same."

There are two typos, one on page 19 "No matter how you look at it, share are, unfortunately, are risk..." and page 36 "In the winter...begin growing a new, clean set for trapping for prey in the new year."

While there are familiar myths, like sharks being dangerous or attacking humans, which are shown to be wrong, I feel that a lot of the "misconceptions" about sharks that are featured just... don't really exist. While it's true that a lot of kids, and adults, may not realize there are different kinds of sharks or know about some of their unique features, it's not the same thing as dinosaurs, where there is a lot of specific information that has been proved wrong due to continuing scientific research. I think that the information was pushed into the format, rather than the format following naturally from the information.

Verdict: While I didn't find this book to be as much of a stand-out choice as the Dinosaur title, it's still going to be a popular addition to most libraries, juvenile or picture book collections, especially since it can be used as a collection of information about sharks, not just busting myths. I've purchased a copy for our collection and will be making a storytime kit about sharks that includes this title as well.

ISBN: 9798887770659; Published May 2024 by Nosy Crow; Purchased for the library; Review copy provided by the publisher and donated to the library