Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Voyage: Ocean
Nonfiction Novelty Book
For ages 8 to 12
DK Publishing, 2009 ISBN: 978-0756645489
Humans have been traveling over the world’s oceans for thousands of years, but it was only recently that we began exploring the fascinating world that exists beneath the waves. Thanks to scuba equipment, submarines, and satellites, we can now see all kinds of things that our ancestors knew nothing about. This book will take you on a journey around the world so that you can see for yourself how amazing marine environments are.
The journey begins by giving us a general overview of our “Ocean Planet.” This is a good name for our planet because it is the only one in our solar system that has large oceans of liquid water. Underneath the oceans, the ocean floor is an active place. Here there are ridges, trenches, plateaus, seamounts, and volcanoes. The salty water is sculpted into waves, and differences between warm zones and cold ones generate currents. Oceans also rise and fall in tides because of the gravitational pull of the moon. Where oceans meet the land along coastlines, dramatic landforms are created due to the “colossal destructive power of the sea.” Here too incredibly rich habitats can be found where animals and plants of all kinds live.
Next, we move on to explore the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the ocean areas around the Antarctic. In each section, we look at the animals found in each area, focus on certain aspects of life in these regions, and more.
Our journey wraps up with an overview of ocean resources, and the need to conserve these precious and beautiful marine environments.
For this circular book – it is round like a ship’s porthole - the publishers have devised a unique format that combines gorgeous color photos, maps, and diagrams with small sections of text. The text wraps around the edge of the round photos on some of the pages, and it is incorporated into the art on others. In the back of the book, there is a pocket that contains a poster, stickers, and round fact cards.
With its unique and graphic-rich format, this is a title that even reluctant readers will find irresistible.
