麻豆区
Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on May 21, 2025I had never heard of the self-taught Irish marine biologist Maude Delap (1866-1953) before encountering this children鈥檚 picture book. Delap is the first person to have bred jellyfish in captivity. The book focuses on her collecting a compass jelly and its tiny immature offspring in the North Atlantic waters off the coast of Valentia Island and studying the life cycle of the creatures.
This is an attractive picture book overall. The art by Ellen Rooney is certainly pretty. Unfortunately, it lacks authentic historical detail. I鈥檓 doubtful Delap鈥檚 laboratory, known as 鈥渢he Department,鈥 was as bright and tidy as it is shown here. The text by Michelle Cusolito is serviceable, presenting the basic facts about how Delap determinedly and observantly went about her work: paddling out into the North Atlantic waters in a currach, scooping up a medusa (adult jelly) and babies (free-swimming 鈥減lanulae larvae鈥), then caring for and watching them over many months as the immature creatures developed into ephyrae, pinhead-sized jellyfish. In the end, only one mature creature鈥攎edusa鈥攔emained, having cannibalized the other five it swam with (as well as consuming large numbers of the other preferred jellyfish which Maude fetched for it). The creature eventually grew to nine inches.
While the work is informative, I feel that it would have better served its young audience with more explanatory detail in the text proper. Further facts are provided in notes that conclude the book, but I believe zoological terms鈥攕uch as 鈥渓arvae鈥 and 鈥減olyp鈥濃攐ught to be clarified as they were introduced. A few descriptive details about the sea creatures the compass jellies fed on鈥攖he clapper jellyfish, sea gooseberries, and arrow worms鈥攚ould also have been welcome. Illustrations of them would鈥檝e worked equally well. There鈥檚 confusion at times: for example, the word 鈥渂ell鈥 is used at one point, but it鈥檚 unclear if the author is referring to the umbrella of the captured jellyfish or the inverted water-filled bell jar in which the scientist houses the creature.
I was also disappointed that the author failed to provide good basic biographical detail about Maude in the actual narrative鈥攈ow she came to be interested in jellyfish at all and what motivated her to engage in her unusual scientific studies. We鈥檙e only told that she did not attend school because she was expected to become a wife and mother but ended up doing neither. It鈥檚 true that some information is given in the author鈥檚 note, but incorporating it into the narrative itself would have been enriching: Maude would have come more alive on the page.
As an adult, I learned quite a bit from the book, but some of that learning was a result of looking up and clarifying particulars for myself. The text might interest some older scientifically inclined children. Alternatively, a parent or teacher might share, discuss, and elaborate on the information while reading it aloud. I liked the book well enough but, in the end, feel the author missed opportunities. Along with my other quibbles, I鈥檒l add that there鈥檚 a kind of flatness to the telling.
