GIANT SHARK: Megalodon Jaws at the Colchagua Museum, Santa Cruz, Chile

On my recent trip to Chile, I went with my family on an excursion to the Colchagua Museum in Santa Cruz, about a two hour drive from Santiago. The museum begins with the history of the world with fossils from the Earth's past. The fossils include the giant jaws of Megalodon, the huge, now extinct shark that roamed the seas until the beginning of the last Ice Age. It was like meeting an old friend. I had learned about Megalodon when I wrote my book, Giant Shark, published by Clarion Books, and have seen models of its jaws in various museums. It is always impressive!

 Giant Shark: Megalodon, Prehistoric Super Predator with striking illustrations by Laurie Caple is now available as a Kindle e-book on Amazon. Originally published by Clarion Books (2000), the hard cover and paperback editions are now out of print.  This has always been one of my most popular books so I am thrilled to see it available again.

For millions of years, a massive shark more than twice as huge as the modern-day great white shark cruised the depths of the ocean, attacking and devouring prey. Fossil remains reveal megalodon to have been more than fifty feet long, with razor-sharp teeth, each the size of a human hand, and jaws so large it could swallow prey larger than a common dolphin. Fluid, detailed watercolors accompany this clear and accessible account of one of the most incredible creatures to inhabit our world.

EASTER ISLAND is Now a Kindle Book

My book, EASTER ISLAND is now available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle. It was originally published by Clarion Books in 2000 and is out of print. The cover has been redesigned but the text and full color photos inside are the same as in the original book. EASTER ISLAND is illustrated with my own photos, taken on my visit to the island in 1996. I am happy to have EASTER ISLAND now available to new readers as an e-book. You can read it with a Kindle app on various devices (I use my iPad) or on your computer.

REVIEW
School Library Journal, starred review
Arnold provides a clear and concise look at the island and the many mysteries that surround it, detailing its early settlement, its people and resources, and the rise and fall of its rich and complex civilization. One of the most intriguing questions that remains unanswered is how the ancient Rapanui people carved and erected hundreds of giant stone statues found all over the island. The author carefully explains how scientists have theorized on the early history and how the decimation over time of the islands natural resources and its isolation from trade routes may have led to its decline in population. The book concludes with a quick look at the tourism that is renewing pride in the unique heritage of the few hundred remaining Rapanui people, as the island becomes a model open-air museum.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Although the purpose of the moai [giant statues] that seem to stand sentinel around the famous island is obviously the intriguing mystery here, Arnold sets the stone figures into cultural perspective, examining what archaeologists, anthropologists, missionaries, explorers, and descendants of island settlers have discovered concerning the Polynesians who carved them. In a dozen succinct chapters she surveys the land and its original topography, discusses legends about the earliest settlers, reconstructs how the moai were carved, moved, and placed, and speculates on how deforestation, overfarming, overhunting, clan warfare, and European-borne disease contributed to the decline of the island civilization.