The Ocean

by Alan Baker, Lisa Edwards (Editor), Kate Buxton (Designed by)

This series helps children develop their reading skills while they learn about animals and their habitats. A different animal is revealed on each spread, and the entire menagerie is presented at the end of each book. The text is simple and lyrical, capturing the imagination and sparking the curiosity of young readers. Alan Maker’s beautiful illustrations and engaging text makes this series a must-read for all youngsters. Each book also includes a picture index to facilitate learning.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction, Picture Books

28 pages, Hardcover

Published February 9, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jeani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat! Interactive book.

[Allison Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Alan Bakers informational picturebook, children get to explore the dense and beautiful world of wildlife that lives beneath the ocean's surface. Each page features it's own ocean animal surrounded by it's natural habitat. Howver, the artwork has a slight twist. To play along with the text, which, on each page, describes the animal and then hints at the next animal, there is a hint in the illustration as well. Each page centers on the star ocean animal, and gives a sliver of a picture of the animal from the next page. This could act as a great book for a read aloud, because it provides hints for the children to pick up on and spark their curiosity. The teacher could even read it in a sort of call and responses style, asking the children if they know which animal is coming next! The true suprise waits for the children at the end of the book, howver, when we find that all of the illustrations come together to form one giant picture! The art is very interactive and creative, as well as realiztic, which is important for any informational children's book. The bck of the book also has it's own little nugget of knowledge, providing a page with extra fact on each animal featured in the book. This book is, overall, very well written and illustrated, and very perfect for a young classroom.

[Audrey]

This series is a delightful first book choice for young kids who want to learn about animals or are curious. In this book the words are lyrical and simple for kids to understand. The illustrations steal the show with the fine details of exciting aquatic creatures on the center of each turn of the page. Towards the end of the book a collage of all the animals that you learned about show up once more and it shows how many things can live in the sea.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent introduction to a variety of sea creatures. Kids will enjoy guessing which animal will appear on the next page.