The Open Ocean

by Francesco Pittau, Bernadette Gervais

Guess a sea creature from its silhouette, shell, or scales— and just lift the flap to discover the answer! This lush, oversized book about marine life features a variety of guessing games and special features, and provides hours of educational entertainment. With elegant, graphic illustrations, plus intriguing facts about each animal, learning about ocean life has never been so fun or interactive.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Childrens, Picture Books, Animals

12 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 2014

About the author

Francesco Pittau è nato in Sardegna ma è di nazionalità belga. Attualmente vive e lavora a Bruxelles. È autore di numerosi libri per bambini insieme a Bernadette Gervais e proprio alcuni dei loro maggiori successi sono stati tradotti per la prima volta in Italia da Il Castoro

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This stunning and cleverly-engineered book features more than 50 shells and creatures of the sea. On some of the oversize pages, readers lift up black flaps with white cut outs to reveal colorful renditions of creatures such as a moray eel or a swordfish. On others, the lift-up flaps contain up close images of creatures such as sea urchins that are revealed in their entirety when the flap is lifted. The final pages consists of four rows with three layers of flaps that show an orca and a Bluefin tuna, among other marine animals. Figuring out exactly how to manipulate those flaps was a bit challenging at first, but the result proved worth the effort as these extraordinary creatures are revealed in their natural beauty and wonder. This is another exceptional title from the creative team responsible for Birds of a Feather and Out of Sight, also equally fascinating glimpses of the natural world.

[Hannah Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This luscious, over-sized picture book by Francesco Pittau and Bernadette Gervais is a sensory experience. It's like diving into the ocean. The book has silhouettes, pop-ups, flaps, and more.

A few facts you'll learn from this book, include:

-the difference between skates and sting rays
-how far a sand hopper can jump
-what sea urchins and hedgehogs have in common

The artwork is gorgeous and produced lots of oohs and ahhs from my children. It's been an instant favorite. We're looking forward to reading more books in this series.

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birds of a Feather and Out of Sight and The Open Ocean by Francesco Pittau, illustrated by Bernadette Gervais – All three of these books are absolutely gorgeous and packed with fascinating facts. They’re large books with movable parts. They also will be your book that readers will pour over and obsessively learn random facts… fantastic books, wish I could afford the luggage space to bring these back to Hong Kong now. They’ll be on an order sooner than later for my library.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this as a gift to a 7-year-old friend. Then I received the gift of reading it with him. A fun way we found to read it was to turn some of the facts into questions for others who hadn't read the book yet. Who knew that the heaviest bony fish in the ocean, a sunfish, can weigh up to 5,000 pounds!

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another remarkable, fascinating book about ocean dwelling critters from the collaborators who created the wonderful Birds of a Feather and Out of Sight.