Ocean Babies

by Deborah Lee Rose, Hiroe Nakata (Illustrator)

"Big as a bus and smaller than seeds, billions of babies are born in the ocean...." This opening line and later refrain entices readers into a magical, real-life world. Through lyrical, read aloud text and light-hearted and beautiful illustration, Ocean Babies presents the animal babies of the ocean. The giant blue whale contrasts with tiny coral polyps, sea horses pop from their fathers' pouches, and bat rays spread wing fins to fly through the ocean for the first time. Did you know that sea otter pups are helpless at birth and need to learn to swim from their parents? Did you know that orca babies look exactly like their parents, while baby emperor angelfish change colors completely in adulthood? Children see an array of charmingly illustrated ocean babies with their parents and also get a gentle introduction to animal life strategies and patterns, such as migration and predation. Fascinating back matter notes on the art and text add another layer of information to the lilting main text with details on habitat, behavior, and animal strategies and life cycles.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Nonfiction, Childrens, Storytime, Family, Science

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the illustrations, even if that brings down its worth as a nonfiction type picture book. It's not a STEM/nature reference type picture book, but it's still a pretty book for little ones curious about all types of animal families (in this case ocean animals). The illustrations are a bit stylized to be too accurate/nonfiction-y, but there are good notes at the end for those who want to learn more. I can see using it on a ocean or animal storytime or a nonfiction addition to a Mother's Day or Father's Day storytime (there are sea horses too!).

[Themountainbookie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book left a lot on the table. For one the illustrations were lucky and more whimsical than realistic. I was bummed out by the illustrations considering it was a National Geographic book. I guess it was cool that my kids learned that there are billions of babies but it was so cartoony that it’s a book we won’t be reaching for much. Not a montesorri aligned book. It didn’t capture my 3 year olds attention like other ocean books.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Danielle T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love that this had info in the back covering the same info I said when we went through the picture book! Cute illustrations.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are very pretty and very brightly colored. The story moves along at a fast pace while still remaining informative. This was a very fun read!

[Pug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aww, a pretty little book about sealife animal babies! Although I didn't necessarily love the use of the word "spurt," I appreciated the author not shying away from the babies' birth.

[Courtney Lloyd]

I loved this book! Ocean Babies, is a beautiful written and illustrated non-fiction children's book. This book talks about all the different kinds of fish and their babies. It mentions similarities to us and differences. The illustrations are definitely my favorite part of the book. They are all beautifully designed and colored. At the end of the book it even talks about all of the different animals mentioned in the book and fun facts about them all. Overall, I love this book and all of the beautiful pictures.

I think this book could be used for really young children. A teacher or speech therapist could use this book to teach colors, similarities, and differences. I also think that this book has a lot of great science facts. This is an easy read book but contains a lot of information.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love marine life, especially marine mammals, so I really enjoyed these water color illustrations of mother and baby ocean animals. The text is simple and short, but somehow manages to balance didactic scientific facts with more poetic language. This would work for many age groups. For my baby, it's a quick bedtime story. Older children would appreciate the pictures, and there is a glossary of facts about all of the featured animals at the end of the book that could be tacked on to story time for older children with longer attention spans. I learned some interesting things in the glossary. I especially loved learning that bat rays are born "rolled up like soft tacos" and that mama grey whales play with their baby whales by blowing bubbles against their bellies to tickle them.

[Romelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple story with a whimsical narration about the cycle of life in the ocean. Beautiful water colors by Hiroe Nakata. Four-page back matter include interesting facts about the marine life with the reiteration of the text from the book. I appreciated the back matter more than the book itself, but it is wonderful for engaging children in spiking interest in wanting to learn more about the ocean life. Perfect for K-1.

[Kandice Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only adorable but its educational. It teaches about all of the little babies in the ocean and where they are located. One aspect about this book that I love is that in the back there are two pages giving detailed explanations about every animal discussed during the book. I will definitely use this book in my classroom.

[Courtney Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ocean Babies go through books from all over the ocean and talk about how they eat, how they swim, very useful information. The talk is not extremely babyish, so older children until about third grade might like this book.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple and beautiful book about the different babies born in the ocean. Each baby is explained in simple terms with some trait they possess. Like the water color pictures most of the time and simple texts. Any age group.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The scientific facts at the end of the book are appreciated, but they make this book a better read for a one-on-one situation than a one-on-many storytime.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The illustrations are beautiful! I love the color palette that was chosen. The ocean babies are so adorable!! =)

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for those who love animals.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, easy to understand text. The end of the book has a section that goes into more detail about the animals you see.

[Carolyn Jeziorski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect read aloud for our preschoolers, who are interested in animals. One class liked ocean animals; they even knew a good number of facts in the book. We paired this with videos on World Book Kids.