Reef Madness

by Christophe Cazenove, Thierry Jytery (Illustrations), Nanette McGuinness (Translator)

Dolphin sonar, the "pistol" shrimp, the incredible intelligence of the octopus ... there's no end to the mysteries and varieties of creatures you'll encounter beneath the sea. It's time to don your wetsuit and follow us into the depths of the oceans to discover the amazing underwater world. Learn about the colors, shapes, species and lifestyles that make up this amazing realm, straight from the (sea)horse's mouth. Each encounter is more incredible than the last!

Genres: Animals, Comics, Graphic Novels

56 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 2013

About the author

Christophe Cazenove was born in Martigues in 1969. A lifelong comics fan, Christophe's first efforts led to a twelve year career … in supermarkets! Toward the tenth year of his employment in frozen foods, one of his projects attracted the attention of comics writer and editor Olivier Sulpice: Predictions of Nostra. After that, he regularly worked for French publisher Bamboo putting his humor to work on series like Gendarmes, the Fire, the Driving School and finally The Sisters. He also participates in the collection "Sport" with Basketball Dunk while writing less thematic stories, such as Area 51. He is also co-writer of the collection "Fades". More recently, he wrote the screenplay for Eden Globe-Trotter, The Adventures of Gullia, My Mother and Me.

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a sucker for anything underwater, so I had to get this. Even if it's an educational cartoon for kids.

The artwork is pretty simple. Every page tells of a certain underwater animal or has a different theme. Fun for small underwater nerds!

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

[Mariangel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and educational comic about sea creatures.

[Jenny Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I choose it for my children's literature class as one of the informative and concept books. This book is informational because introduce sea animals in a way that children can relate to them easily. It has information like how they come to life and when do they change to be what they are. It shows all of those sea animals that we share the planet with and also those whom haven’t been discover yet.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been described as a graphic novel, but it is not. It is a series of cartoon/comics about life under the sea. Each page and occasionally two page spreads depict a different sea creature or issue that the creatures that live in the sea are dealing with. There are stories about common animals such as jellyfish, sharks and whales as well as some not as well known such as Monkfish, torpedo ray and periwinkle. The book touches on prehistoric sea creatures and various facts about sea animals such as what they eat, where they live etc. the book teaches about life under the sea, but it is done in a fun say with wisecracking animals and funny illustrations. The book touches upon the problems brought on by man as well as including a chart at the beginning book that shows the various ratings of threatened species that you can refer back to. A book that will definitely appeal to middle grades boys. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

[J Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sea Creatures from Christophe Cazenove is an informational graphic book to help get young readers interested in, and caring about, life in the sea. As such it is good even if a bit uneven. As long as it serves its purpose I think any unevenness or too-silly comments can be forgiven.

I usually revert to my inner child when reading books designed for young readers but this book didn't seem to move me in that direction. I know, that really isn't a substantive comment beyond the fact that it made me wonder why. The why is probably a combination of things. While one reviewer, probably correctly, assumes that the silliness in the first few entries was to draw readers in, I have always (even as a child) been one who bristles when I feel I'm being either talked down to or manipulated (though as a kid I probably didn't use those words to express my feelings of unease). As a result I think my inner child unconsciously turned away and left the adult me reading a child's book.

I do, however, think that this will be fun for the vast majority of young readers and certainly serves an important role in contemporary society. In a world where it is almost mandated by the government to dislike and abuse the environment, look down on all sentient beings and generally have no empathy whatsoever, a book that tries to counter that way of viewing life is important.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[ramram · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book to read when you are stuck at home and can’t go to the library. It is a cartoon that describes the ocean 🌊 animals in a humorous way. I liked the “suction clam” and how they said that the clam can hide from predators by sticking to a wall. Well, when you get out (probably never away from the wall), you might get eaten by the predators around you who are waiting to eat you. They also have little fact boxes in the corner of the page showing where the animal lives, weight and length. Christophe Cazenove has an amazing artistic talent that makes you feel more interested in the book than having no pictures and describing all of the action and dialogue in boring words. A funny part was when two great white sharks were bragging of how much people they kill in a year. A fish swam over and said “you say you kill five people a year?”, the sharks, laughing ,they said “yeah! We are very dangerous!” The fish said “welp, snakes kill about 100,000 people a year”(I think) and then the fish starts listing animals who kill more people. At the end the fish said, “coconuts kill around 120 people a year. Coconuts are even more dangerous that you”. Lol XD. Interested in humor and the ocean? Well you gotta read this book if you do.

[Niania Melluin · Rating 4 out of 5]

BD sympathique pour (re-)plonger dans l'océan et (ré-)apprendre les comportements des différentes espèces. Une mini-histoire par planche, facile à lire et à s'arrêter aussi. C'est un peu comme faire une baignade pour prolonger l'été. Un accent est mis également sur la pollution des océans. C'est une bonne chose, car c'est un réel problème malheureusement. On ne peut plus aller à la plage ou en mer sans tomber sur des déchets.

[Recoco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny and informative cartoon/comic packed with vivid illustrations. It is does make a lot of sense I mean... like how a coconut is potentially more dangerous than a shark. The tiny stats at the corner could be a bit bigger.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should really have been a bigger book - and I mean that literally. The print is teeny. That said, it's both cute and informative. The turtles were my favorite.

[Spinster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned a few new facts but didn't care for the art and many of the jokes were impossible to explain to my kid.

[wildct2003 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. High on the cuteness/funny scale. A bit skimpy on the story flow/length.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sea Creatures: Reef Madness #1' by Christophe Cazenove with art by Thierry Jytery and translation by Nanette McGuinness is a fun way to learn about the creatures that live in our oceans.

The book starts with a chart showing the different levels of species endangerment. This needs to be referred to during the book because I couldn't remember what "NE" meant (although near extinction is one of the easier ones). Each page is a comic story about a creature or series of creatures. There are stories about jellyfish and sharks and whales and all kinds of other fish and creatures. The focus is on learning, but the creatures make wisecracks and the art tends towards cartoonish as you would expect with talking fish.

Of course, the most dangerous creature in the ocean is man. There are also large parts of the ocean that are unexplored. Those are a couple of the more obvious lessons, but I didn't feel like the book was overly preachy or even felt like a textbook. Instead, it's a fun way to learn about the subject.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Paul Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome subtitle that kids won’t get.
Sunday comic strip-like cartoons explain the quirks of different types of fish, with a twist comical—or attempt at comedy—ending. All the creatures think and speak, and for the most part get along, though there’s always some bad guys.
The thought of a humpback whale approaching discreetly blows my mind. . . especially while singing (though as I remember he only sings when mating).
The humor is mostly groan-inducing if you’re over 12, but since this book is meant for younger than that, it feels right. Can’t help but think, though, since this was originally done in French, something was lost in the translation.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

[Pop Bop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better, More Thorough, More Interesting, Than You Might Expect

A few pages into this I was having some doubts. It is in the style of a comic book, in terms of the drawing and the panel layouts. Some of the humor was pretty dopey. The content seemed to be drifting into an emphasis on gross or silly or maybe even kind of dumb. In the first three pages we learn that octopuses collect trash to decorate their hiding spots, (I'm not sure about that), flatfish aren't flat just because they were sat on by a big grouper, and starfish can be used as Chinese throwing stars. Uh-oh.

But wait. Maybe the idea was to grab a younger reader's eyeballs and interest with some silliness up front. Because after that start the book settles down and gets very interesting and informative. The humor even gets better, the creatures begin to address each other and the reader directly, and the whole project starts to take off.

Reflecting on the content, I ended up sort of amazed at how much the book covers. It's 56 pages. Each page, (or sometimes two), covers one topic, displaying 7 to 9 colorful panels on a page, often with a final species distribution map and fact summary in the last panel. Topics include, in no special order, monkfish, endangered species, how fish sleep, periwinkles, dolphin sonar, pistol shrimp, whale beaching, sound underwater, biomimetics, creatures of the abyss, and more. There is a strong, but not dominant or overly preachy environmental message as well.

The upshot is that this book ends up being very thorough and remarkably informative. It never loses its sense of fun, but what starts out as dopey fun turns into look-how-cool-this-is fun. There are lots of marine biology starter books out there for younger readers and lots of them seem to be going for a textbook-lite kind of feel. That's fine; many of those books are good and engaging. But, this educational comic book approach is very interesting, and offers a whole different way to reach and engage young readers. A nice and intriguing option.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Kirsten Lost 2022 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is great and it's funny AND educational. I would have this on my coffee table just to look at the cartoons from time to time!

Thanks to Netgalley for the read.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great little graphic novel for kids. The information is available in an accessible fun way with humor thrown in. My son found the jokes very funny and learned new things.

I was provided with a free digital copy of this book to review, the thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Nightlizard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and simple art. An educational book for kids. I liked it.

*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review or rating.