A Super Awesome Book Report

The Cod's Tale by Mark Curlansky and S.D. Schindler

Without the cod, we might not be in North America today.

The cod was important to the Native Americans, the Vikings, the Basques, the Pilgrims, and even African slaves working on plantations in the Carribbean.

If you want to cross a big ocean, you need strong ships and food to eat. Cod is a good food source because it's common and you can dry it to make it last longer. Cod helped the Vikings and the Basques come all the way to North America.

When the Pilgrims got to North America, they thought they were going to hunt, farm, and fish. Their European crops didn't grow well, and they weren't great hunters. It's a good thing they had cod. You can use cod for fertilizer, food, and even medicine.

The Native Americans ate cod and other fish. They made fishing lines from vegetable fibers and fishing hooks from bones. They helped the Pilgrims survive in North America.

Cod are not very pretty. They are three feet long or bigger, grayish silver, with a feeler under their bottom lip. Cod lay a lot of eggs but most of them get eaten by predators. They live on continental shelves in cold water. Their biggest enemies are seals and humans. They are easy to catch because they'll eat nearly anything that they think is a living creature. People have found styrofoam cups in cod bellies!

The cod is getting rarer and rarer. Fishermen are using giant nets and catching too many fish at a time. We need to stop overfishing because otherwise we won't have any fish left. If we don't have enough fish, it will affect a lot of creatures' lives, including our own.

By Supersim and Dudeman

Our Reviews

Supersim: It was fascinating, but I kind of wanted more animal facts and less history. Four stars. I think we should put it on our Shelfari shelf.
Dude: I thought it was an awesome book. I didn't have any problems with it. I give it 4 stars.
Mom: I didn't expect to find it so interesting. I never realized how important cod was to our history. Five stars, because the book was great and the illustrations are, too.