Beneath the Waves - a review

As we read disturbing news accounts of dying manatees, environmental disasters caused by toxic waste, and ocean pollution on the scale of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is more imperative than ever that we learn how to protect our miraculous blue planet. In honor of Earth Day, I highlight a beautiful book that's sure to engender respect and admiration for our ocean habitats, the creatures and plants who live in them, and the people who care for them.

 

Beneath the Waves: Celebrating the Ocean through Pictures, Poems, and Stories

By Stephanie Warren Drimmer

National Geographic, 20201

From bright sandy beaches to inky dark depths ... from sea stars to sea snakes to sea lions ... a wondrous world awaits Beneath the Waves

 

  Beneath the Waves is a browser's dream. Its generous size and 192 pages are awash in enticing facts about all facets of life and our interaction with oceans.  There are eleven chapters ranging from "On the Beach" to "People and Oceans," and including everything in-between—sea creatures, seashore creatures, habitats, geology, legends, scientific discoveries and more.  As with all National Geographic Kids publications, the illustrations are beautiful and offer a real insider's view of habitats and creatures from penguins to tropical fish. And of course, there are the extreme facts that fascinate kids and adults alike,

"Polar bears have been known to swim more than 60 miles (100 km) without rest in search of food."

"One of the world's oldest shell collections was unearthed from the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii."

"Jellyfish have lived in Earth's ocean for more than 500 million years."

 Included are Contents, Index, Photo Credits, Scientific Names of Ocean Life, and an Afterword by renowned oceanographer, Sylvia Earle.

This will be a great addition for libraries, or, as mine will be, a gift for a budding young environmentalist.

My copy of Beneath the Waves was provided by Media Masters Publicity.

Seashores - a review

About Habitats: Seashores
by Cathryn Sill
Peachtree, 2017

Approximately 40% of U.S. residents live near the coast, yet there is a dearth of nonfiction titles for very young readers on the topic.  Seashores fills this gap with beautiful, painted illustrations by wildlife artist, John Sill.  The illustrations are reminiscent of Audubon's style. Cathryn Sill offers very simple observations,

Plants have to be tough to live in the salty spray, strong winds, and hot sunshine at seashores.

Each sentence is in a large simple font on a white background.  The accompanying illustration is on the facing page.  In a nod to all types of seashores, there are depictions of muddy flats, rocky cliffs, palm-ringed beaches, and beaches from across the globe.  Wildlife and bird life are accurately represented in each location.

There is only one sentence or thought per page, however, for older readers, a note at the bottom offers the title and plate number of the illustration.  The author's Afterword lists each plate number with a small representation of the illustration and a paragraph that more fully describes the scene.  For the quote above, the description reads,

Many seashore plants grow close to the ground for protection from the wind.  Others have thick and waxy leaves that make it easier to store water.  Some have leaves covered with tiny hairs that protect the plant from the heat.  Pink Sand Verbenas have thick, water-storing leaves.  They live in sandy soil along the western coast of North America.

A Glossary and Bibliography complete the book.  The suggested age range for About Habitats: Seashores is from 3-7.  This is a lovely, educational book that will appeal to shore dwellers and mid-staters alike.


A Teacher's Guide for the About Habitats series is available here.


My copy of Seashores was provided by Peachtree Publishers.  It will be on a shelf near you in August.

Life in the Ocean - a review

I've just returned from vacation and have some catching up to do, but I didn't want to let Nonfiction Monday pass by without highlighting Claire A. Nivola's beautiful picture book, Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle.


Nivola, Claire A. 2012. Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Born in 1935, Sylvia Earle rode in a single passenger airplane at the age of 5, was diving by the age of 16, went on an expedition in the Indian Ocean (the only female member of the expedition!), helped design a submersible diving bubble, once lived for 2 weeks under water, and served as the chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Ostensibly a biographical story of the admirable, Sylvia Earle, Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle is this and more.

Life in the Ocean inspires the reader to follow his dreams, wherever they may lead, and for the reader already interested in the natural world, and marine environments in particular, Life in the Ocean calls him to explore,

     We have explored only 5 percent of the ocean.  We know more about the planets in outer space than we know about the sea on our very own home planet!
  

Claire Nivola's detailed paintings illustrate her intense interest in the natural world, showing even a lone mussel or skate egg sac on the ocean floor.  Most of the illustrations are large and surrounded by white space, offset by manageable blocks of text in a simple font.  However, smaller square illustrations are used to highlight the two more biographical pages of the book - each square featuring a milestone in Earle's life. The painting of a humpback whale swimming past Sylvia is stunningly serene, but calls to mind our individual insignificance on the planet. Check out Macmillan's Flickr gallery of artwork from Life in the Ocean to see this (though truncated) and many other illustrations from the book.

A lengthy and illustrated Author's Note contains additional information on Sylvia Earle and the current state of the earth's oceans. A Selected Bibliography rounds out this engaging and informational text.

Beautiful, inspiring and enlightening. Highly recommended.

Other reviews @
Waking Brain Cells
Kirkus Reviews

While Sylvia Earle may have "lost her heart to the water," after leaving her home in New Jersey for Florida, the ocean here in New Jersey is also a source of constant wonder, where my family has enjoyed sighting whales, dolphins, bio luminescent creatures lighting up the evening breakers, wave-surfing manta rays, and all manner of other more mundane, but nonetheless fascinating creatures.  Life in the Ocean reminds me that these everyday marvels may not always be so. They need our support as well as our admiration.

Dr. Sylvia Earle displays samples to aquanaut inside TEKTITE.
  Source: NOAA Photo Library
[http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/nur08002.htm]
OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP)

If you're interested in what Sylvia Earle is doing today, visit Mission Blue: Sylvia Earle Alliance.

Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is at The Nonfiction Detectives.

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau

Berne, Jennifer. 2008. Manfish: A story of Jacques Cousteau. Ill. by Eric Puybaret.

This is a softly and beautifully illustrated picture book biography of Jacques Cousteau. The illustrations were painted in acrylic on linen, and they are as soothing as the ocean life which they depict. Blues, greens, grays and shimmering silver take center stage in this short, but informative book. In illustrations showing human and marine life, marine life has an equal or greater presence - just as Cousteau would have liked.

The narrative is simple, yet compelling, detailing his first use of his invention, the "aqualung," Berne writes, "Below the surface, Jacques swam and glided and dove. He did flips and somersaults. He stood upside down on one finger, and laughed bubbles into the sea. Jacques could breathe beneath the water! Now he could swim across miles of ocean, his body feeling what only scales had felt, his eyes seeing what only fish had seen."

What a legacy! A great book!

Wave

Lee, Suzy. 2008. Wave. San Francisco: Chronicle.

The dust jacket says it all, "A sunny day. A curious little girl. A playful wave." This is a delightful, wordless narrative of a young girl's experience at the beach. Like children everywhere, she is alternately brave, fearful, experimental, playful, defiant, and contemplative when facing the ocean's never-ending march to the shore. The wave has its own moods as well - tentative, playful, menacing, calm, peaceful. Seagulls and a remotely watchful adult add interest, but do not detract from the featured cast - a girl and a wave. The illustrations are simply, yet expressively rendered in shades of gray and blue, created in charcoal and acrylics. A perfect book for sharing.