Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill

Written by Matt Lilley

Illustrated by Dan Tavis

Publisher: Tilbury Publishing

Summary: Krill are the largest animals able to catch and eat phytoplankton, and they in turn are eaten by the largest animals ever to live on earth―blue whales―as well as by seals, penguins, and a host of others. In other words, krill are really good at eating, and they make really good eating. And that makes them the most important animals in the high-latitude oceans. Our star krill is so good at gobbling up phytoplankton that he turns green, so we can pick him out from the crowd racing to escape a penguin’s beak or a blue whale’s gaping maw. The book has been reviewed and endorsed by global krill expert Dr. Stephen Nichol, and the manuscript earned an honorable mention in Minnesota’s McKnight Artist Fellowships for Writers. Helpful backmatter is included.

"[Good Eating] follows the ever-popular (to predators, anyway) Antarctic krill from blobby egg to shrimplike maturity, where they are surrounded by “krillions” of fellow crustaceans and not a few hungry-looking seals, penguins, whales, and fish. Lilley makes jocular observations (“You look kind of buggy, but you’re not a bug. / You look kind of shrimpy, but you’re not a shrimp.”) and comments on successive growth stages, bioluminescence, and this keystone species’ role in the Southern Ocean’s food chain."
― John Peters, Booklist

Published: Jan 11, 2022