Poetry Box review: Whiti: Colossal Squid of the Deep plus a 48- hour poem challenge

Victoria Cleal, illust. Isobel Te Aho-White Whiti: Colossal Squid of the Deep Te Papa Press 2020

Thanks to Te Papa Press I have a book to give to one child who tries my popUP challenge below.

Since her arrival in 2007, the colossal squid has been the most popular exhibit at Te Papa. Now there is a sparkling new book that shares Whiti’s story – and indeed the story of colossal squid and other sea creatures that live in Ross Sea’s biting cold in Antarctica.

This book takes us on a journey to Antarctica — you feel like you are there with your warm layers (it’s colder than your fridge), watching out for the animals that can live in this harsh place. BUT this is an underwater story. We need to dive down deep and discover the fascinating life below the ice.

I love the way pages unfold to give you a panoramic view of underwater life because the underwater world is utterly fascinating.

Look for the giant sea spiders that are not really spiders but have 8 legs and are the size of dinner plates!

Or the volcano sponges that are sometimes big enough to fit a diver inside.

Find out how a colossal squid egg is the size of an ant. The bulgy-eyed babies feed off plankton, but penguins and other creatures like to eat the babies! These tricky squid babies are hard to spot as they are virtually see through and they (maybe) squirt out black ink to muddle the predator.

Find out how the adult squid travels and lives in the deep deep dark dark water with her eyes growing like headlights (bioluminescence).

The writing is FABULOUS.

The illustrations are CAPTIVATING.

The book is a fact finder’s DELIGHT!

I love the way similes help you get a COLOSSAL SQUID picture: ‘Whiti gobbles the toothfish the way you’d eat a corncob.’ GENIUS!

Or the fact Whiti’s brain is shaped like a doughnut!

Or the fact colossal squid get redder as they get older: ‘Red stands out in our light-filled world – think of pōhutukawa flowers. But red light can’t reach far down in wai. Red animals in the deep just look black, like the wai around them.’

You will also get to track other sea creatures: the slow-paced, long-living toothfish, the precious parāoa sperm whales with their wide hungry jaws, the bendy-boned snailfish, the wheke octopus / dumbo octopus.

This is an important book because Antarctica is an important place: ‘Aotearoa New Zealand and many other countries have agreed to be the kaitiaki guardians of the Antarctica and keeps its mauri strong. New Zealand helped make a big part of the Ross Sea a marine protected area. It’s now a safe place in the moana for plants and animals.’

I love the way Victoria uses te reo Māori as she tells the story of Whiti.

The book also shows us we can keep an eye out for ngū squid and wheke octopus in rock pools on our coastlines.

What a magnificent resource this book is. Get a copy for your shelf and then give a copy to a curious child.

POP-UP challenge: I will give one copy of the book to a child that sends me a colossal squid poem with one curious fact in it. You have 48 HOURS!

Deadline: Friday 22nd October at noon

email: paulajoygreen@gmail.com

include: name, age, year, name of school

don’t forget to put SQUID POEM in subject line so I don’t miss it.