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  • Published: 4 September 2014
  • ISBN: 9780147512772
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 48
  • RRP: $19.99

The Cod's Tale

A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World!



Dried cod was the food that allowed the Viking to cross the cold Atlantic Ocean to America, and that allowed Christopher Columbus and other explorers after that. It influenced American history from the Revolution to the Industrial age to the age of frozen food to the modern concern for the environment. Now, with only a few cod remaining in the oceans, this book offers a look at our history through the eyes of this tasty, versatile, once-ubiquitous fish.

* “Accessible to middle-grade readers…The Cod’s Tale considers how the cod fits into human history. Excellent ink drawings, brightened with colorful washes, illustrate incidents from the text with clarity, a flair for the dramatic, and a sense of humor.”
—Booklist, starred review
 
What was it that enabled the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, and the Pilgrims to cross the cold Atlantic Ocean to America? What became a staple of the medieval diet in Europe, helped spur the American Revolution, and allowed the early New Englanders to start making money of their own?
 
Would you believe that it was a fish?
 
The cod!
 
Based on Mark Kurlansky’s New York Times bestselling adult book, Cod, this picture book offers a unique look at over a thousand years of world history.
 
“Breezy, kid-friendly prose...fascinating and informative...bound to hook young readers.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

An ALA Notable Book

Includes suggestions for further reading, factual sidebars, and timeline

  • Published: 4 September 2014
  • ISBN: 9780147512772
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 48
  • RRP: $19.99

About the author

Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky is the bestselling author of several bestselling nonfiction titles including Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (winner of the Glenfiddich Best Food Book Award), The Basque History of the World, Salt: A World History, 1968: The Year that Rocked the World, a short story collection The White Man in the Tree and a novel, Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue.

Also by Mark Kurlansky

See all

Praise for The Cod's Tale

Praise for The Cod's Tale:
*"Contributing enormously to the book's visual appeal, Schindler's excellent ink drawings, brightened with colorful washes, illustrate incidents from the text with clarity, a flair for the dramatic, and a sense of humor."
--Booklist, starred review
"A welcome and intriguing addition to library shelves."
--School Library Journal
"Kurlansky is a masterful storyteller. . . . Schindler's pictures, from serious to silly, add to the pleasure . . . . Readers of this title will never again look at fish and chips in quite the same way."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Breezy, kid-friendly prose. . . . Fascinating and informative . . . bound to hook young readers."
--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books