Fossil Fish Found Alive

Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth
by Sally M. Walker
Carolrhoda Books, 2002

Genre: Non-fiction

Honors:

• ALA Notable Children's Books 2003
• Book Report 09/01/02
• Booklist 03/15/02
• Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred 04/01/02
• Horn Book 01/01/03
• Kirkus Reviews starred 04/01/02
• New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2004
• School Library Journal starred 05/01/02
• Teacher Librarian 04/01/03
• Wilson's Children 10/01/10
• Wilson's Junior High School 01/09/10

Review: Ever since an unusual fish was discovered in a net full of the day's catch in 1939, scientists in several parts of the globe have been racing to discover more about--and find ways to protect--the Coelacanth (pronounced "see-luh-kanth"), a modern day version of a fossil fish more than 300 million years old, though hardly changed since the time of the dinosaurs. As different scientists and fish experts have found, this remarkable fish has many characteristics that are unlike any other modern fish anywhere on the planet, and scientists still haven't discovered why, or how this fish remained alive long after other ancient species either died out or evolved. Walker dives as deep into the mystery of the Coelacanth as possible, providing artifacts from research such as photographs and stills from video footage, letters and diagrams of the fish, and details about the known facets of the fish's daily existence.

Opinion: This was one of my favorite reads in this entire blog. Seriously. I was amazed at what I'd learned about the Coelacanth, and I have to wonder how many other library users have discovered this book in the ten years since it was published. It is not a lengthy read, it took me about forty-five minutes to complete, but with the scope of issues revealed in the book and the number of resources suggested for further research, I would put this on a higher level of reading and research material than some of the other non-fiction titles I've read, better for older tweens.

Ideas: As this book is a bit dated, a good exercise/lesson would be to send students on a quest to find newer information (if it exists) about the Coelacanth: what has been discovered, or what remaining questions have been answered (if any) since the book's publication date?