Submarines

by Sydelle Kramer

Young readers are in for the most exciting trip of their lives as they venture into a nuclear submarine! While touring the vessel from bow to stern, they learn about the history and mechanics of subs, their military and scientific uses, and the incredible discomfort–and danger–of life onboard. Illustrated with photographs, this is easy-to-read, high-interest nonfiction at its most compelling!

Genres: Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Sydelle Kramer is the author of many nonfiction graded readers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction book about submarines. It teaches you the inner workings of submarine life. It's not easy and you barely see the sun. (Sometimes my dad says he's allergic the sun, but its just because he lived on a submarine for so long.) It teaches you how the submarine dives and submerges, how a submarine runs, the different types of submarines, what the inside of submarines looks like, different types of sonar, and the different rooms on the submarine. It also teaches you some different things about military life, like the lack of communication, sleeping, and boredom felt.
For me, this book is very nostalgic. I've had it since I was about six, but that doesn't take away the fact that the book has become outdated since 2005. We don't use family grams as much as we used to and the amount of words isn't right. My mother penciled in 50 words. Another issue I have with this book is that it is written for kids, but it talks about some heavy topics like K-19 or the Kursk. It says that a small leak could become a flood. As a military kid, I can see this being a little of the fuel of worry while my parent was deployed. There are some parts I think are being pretty scary for a six-year-old child, especially the child of a submariner. I love the concepts of this book and what it taught me about my dad's job, but it does talk about some heavy things and its very out of date. The pictures are pretty cool though. It shows real-life, past and present submarines. I like seeing that.
I wouldn't use this in a classroom unless I had some students who were really interested in submarines or their parents were submariners. I would mostly use it to teach the truth about submarines (they're not yellow and they look nothing like they do on tv.) I would also use this book to help a student who is beginning to read paragraphs and who is especially interested in submarines. It would give them a book to practice reading. I could also use for a career day. I explain what a submariner does and how he does it. Then I could give some other examples of jobs they could do and ask them to draw what they want to do when they grow up.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the submarine, and the day to day activities that occur and lifestyles of the personnel assigned the duty of living under the seas, and oceans for months at a time. This book also tells of the history of the submarine from its early beginnings to the current advancements and changes.