Squid Lit

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightly, and several tons of angry sushi. You just can't go wrong with that combination. This movie was great for pure entertainment and eye candy. I thought the Kraken was well done, a monster worthy of respect. I enjoyed the sense of mystery and suspense in the original attacks and the conversations between the nerdy crew members about the etymology of the word "Kraken". I have not yet had the steel nerve to watch the movie while eating sushi. I also enjoyed the first movie (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) and will flock to see can one person flock??? the third movie (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)

Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid This is an easy reader (grades 1-3), published in 2003, illustrated with drawings and photographs. Very colorful. Good pictures, even if they are slightly out of date now (the book dates from before there were photos of live giant squid). All in all, it's a good book for lively young minds.

Flotsam This book is absolutely beautiful. I can't come up with enough adjectives for it, rich, yummy, delicious. This is a picture book in the most literal sense of the word. The story is told completely without words. A boy finds a camera washed ashore by the waves. He develops the film and discovers an undersea world. He also finds pictures of all the other children who have found the camera over the years. He takes his picture and throws the camera back in. There is a wonderful picture of the giant squid giving rides to mermaids in an undersea garden. Every time I open the book I find something new. There are some sea turtles with castles on their backs and a mechanical fish which are also absolutely stunning. Other books by David Wiesner include Tuesday, which involves flying frogs, and June 29, 1999 in which giant vegetables start mysteriously falling from the sky. I heartily recommend stopping by the children's section of the library.

The Haggis-On-Whey World of Unbelieveable Brilliance: Animals of the Ocean; in particular the Giant Squid This brand of humor can only be described with one word -- very odd.

The Search for the Giant Squid: the Biology and Mythology of the World's most elusive Sea Creature This book is by Richard Ellis, whose name begins to appear quite often if you search seriously into Architeuthis. He has also written Monsters of the Sea; the history, natural history, and mythology of the oceans' most fantastic creatures. I will admit that I haven't spent as much time with either book as I would like as I keep beeing distracted by such trivialities as anatomy and organic chemistry, but I hope to get to them before the end of the decade.

Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep by Liz Kessler, sequel to The Tail of Emily Windsnap It's a cute story, aimed at 8-12-year-old girls. (I personally am a great fan of young adult fiction, often finding it better written and more enjoyable than the "more sophisticated" stuff.) This one had an interesting take on the myth of the Kraken, but a bit more "don't do it" suspense than I like.

Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson. Eva Ibbotson's works have been compared to Harry Potter. I think that means that they are children's fantasy novels written in the past ten years that take place in and around England. Her books are highly original. Her characters are well-meaning and good-hearted, but sometimes have unusual ethics. This book, like her others, is a good fun read. Her version of the Kraken was not closely related to most mythological versions of the monster, or to the biological versions of the creature, but he was a well-developed character and made for a good story.

Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson. I haven't read this yet, but with a pair of authors like this, it has to be good.