“You’d freeze your a** off”.
This is just my cup of tea and I shared parts of it with my 9 yo child; they enjoyed the humour and the facts.
Why is this book so great? It combines scientific approaches/perspectives/discussions about marine life with amazing science-based information served with humour.
This is an excellent book for teens, YA readers and everyone who wishes to be more informed about marine life and be entertained while absorbing the information.
Most of the illustrations were funny and relevant as well.
I loved this book and I wish for more science-based books delivered in this manner.

"Megalodons, Mermaids, and Climate Change" is a teen/YA nonfiction book by two scientists: Ellen Prager (a marine scientist) and Dave Jones (a meteorologist) that gives brief but informative answers to questions that they've gotten in the past. This ranges from questions about sea creatures, to Atlantis, to hurricanes, and climate change. Prager and Jones are able to describe in layman's terms how various things work and back up their answers with data and studies (more information is found in the back of the book). They also use funny anecdotes from themselves and other scientists to further explain topics. A recommended purchase for YA and teen nonfiction collections.

Where do I even begin? I went into this blind and got this as an ARC..and I am left...speechless. The time and energy alone that was put into this book is incredible. The resources at the back could be its own book! This book touched on something that scares me and something that I absolutely love...the ocean and space! You will learn about ocean life, why the coral reefs are dying and what we can do to help, the difference between weather vs. climate, but in language that is easy to understand. Weather related events and what to do in an emergency. Explaining climate change in relatable ways is so important, and then they talked about the sun, moon, and eclipses, oh my! As a middle school science teacher this book spoke to my soul, and as a human living on Earth...it did the same. No thing is too small to help battle climate change...the easiest thing to do to help? It's free...vote!

Written by a marine scientist and a meteorologist, this is an interesting introduction to the ocean and the atmosphere. It answers questions about topics including the sea, sea creatures, coral reefs, the supernatural (or is it?), lightning, hurricanes, weather forecasting, extreme events, climate change and the sun.

I love fun facts and there are plenty here.

You’re more likely to be killed by a toaster than by a shark.

The only whale with an esophagus big enough to swallow a human adult is the sperm whale but they “dive thousands of feet to catch prey” so you’re very, very unlikely to be on the menu, even accidentally.

Starfish aren’t called starfish anymore! They’re known as sea stars now.

“As sunlight enters the ocean, short-waved light like green and blue penetrate deeper. Long-waved red light is absorbed more quickly. So, below about sixty feet, without artificial light, everything appears blue-green.”

… This includes blood.

When I was a kid, I was always on the lookout for books like this for school project research but it was too advanced for kid me. Adult me wavered between ‘Didn’t I learn this at school?’ and ‘That’s really interesting. I should have studied science after it became an elective at school.’ It probably would have been just right for teenage me but they would’ve thought it looked too much like homework.

For readers who are craving more answers, there’s a fairly extensive list of sources and additional information at the back of the book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the opportunity to read this book.