The Nantucket Sea Monster: A Fake News Story

This is a fun and highly informative non-fiction book about fictitious events: made-up sea-monster sightings off Nantucket Island in 1937. The hoax was documented and reported by a local newspaper whose editor was in on the fake news story from its inception. Darcy Pattison gives an engaging recounting of a page from history whose lessons could not be more timely. Young readers may laugh at the thought of grown-ups being so easily duped, but the book’s back matter will help parents and teachers turn the chuckles into insights. After walking readers through the publicity stunt’s timeline of events, Pattison gives a short primer on our constitution’s guarantee of a free press. Then she poses a question: Was the publicity stunt right or wrong? This well-conceived and entertaining book equips even young readers to answer. I highly recommend The Nantucket Sea Monster.

I use this in my library with 4th-6th graders teaching about fake news. The kids were shocked to read about all the credible sources who were involved in this stunt. They no longer believe everything they read!

Used this to help my students realize that “fake news” is not a new phenomenon and as an intro to my source evaluation unit.

Received a misprint book with an entirely different story in the front of the original text.

This is among one of my favorites of this author’s books. Every year when my students start to write essays we have to have a chat about reliable information. I use this book to help them understand that just because they see it or hear it in the new or find it online doesn’t mean it isn’t fake news. This is the story of one of the biggest hoaxes ever. The man who was responsible for balloons in the Macy’s Day parade decided to create a sea monster balloon. He got several officials from the town, the newspapers both local and not local. They created this fabulous story. It brought people to Nantucket and put them in news around the world. They were able to do this because of the first amendment which gives the press freedom of speech. One thing Darcy points out is that sometimes freedom of speech can show you that you can’t believe everything you read in the paper. I use this with students to discuss how we know if something is reliable or not. I don’t want them to decided because it was said on the news that it was true. This author’s books are not only entertaining but informative and useful for teachers of all grades.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book with the help of my 7 year old daughter. This book was a nice bedtime story to share with her except for the vocabulary was closer to ten and up in parts like denizens and trying to explain what a publicity stunt was. This is a cute children's book but probably better for a 3rd grade to fully understand the concept and appreciate the story more fully.

As a teacher librarian, I am constantly on the lookout for books which alert my students to events they need to stay abreast of in their world and community. I keep a close watch over ANYTHIING published by Darcy Pattison. She has that rare gift of pinpointing today's issues and writing about them in a way that students and adults alike can understand and process. The Nantucket Sea Monster: A False News Story is amazing and highly recommended by this educator. Pattison's supreme professionalism in her research takes this piece to a whole new level of spot on information, but what makes her work desirable to youngsters is the method of storytelling she uses. She delivers ... but in a non-didactic way. I was immediately impressed with the story and how it pulls the reader in with its step-by-step explanation of how this ridiculous news stunt occurred. I teach my students how to evaluate web sites and determine which are viable and which are "False News." I will use this book as a spring board to introduce this lesson from now on. I would do this book a disservice if I didn't mention the art work. Throughout the book, the method of illustration strengthened an already outstanding text. That was accomplished by allowing the reader to glimpse newsprint pictures that had been whitewashed. The entire piece is brilliant, but I've come to expect that from any project by Darcy Pattison. Well done, Ms. Pattison and kudoes to illustrator, Peter Willis, and to Junior Library Guild for recognizing its worth!

At a time when the current White House resident and his supporters use the accusation that all unfavorable news stories about him and his policies, actions and historic behaviors are "fake news," no matter how well documented, Darcy Pattison's "The Nantucket Sea Monster" gives us and young readers a true, documented and humorous account of an actual "face news" story from the 1920s. The publicity stunt promoted by Macy's Department Store and a puppeteer which garnered a huge publicity boon without one penny spent in advertising. The importance of a free press is clear: to continue asking questions without being hindered by the government or other powers that be is the only way to finally get to the truth of any issue. Does the press sometimes get it wrong? Yes. Is the press sometimes misled and tricked? Yes. But that is exactly why it is important to keep asking questions and, remember that a healthy dose of skepticism can go a long way to preventing us from falling into the trap of believing the unbelievable.