Close-up color photographs of an assortment of sea creatures inspired this well-designed collection of 27 short poems in a range of styles appropriate to each subject. Butschler photographed various crabs, fish, sea stars, otters and more on the beach or in the Vancouver Aquarium, and then set the images on a full-page background design of line and color blending into the scene. Careful word choice, interesting imagery and attention to rhyme and rhythm, as well as the requirements of different poetic forms, distinguish this collection. From haiku to rhymed couplets, an acrostic and a Dickenson-like pair of quatrains beginning “There is a seamstress in the sea / who gathers kelp for thread / and weaves a fluid tapestry / across her satin bed,” the poetry will surprise and delight young readers, perhaps prompting some writing of their own. Harley concludes with two pages of interesting facts about the sea creatures that also serve as an index. (Poetry. 7-12)
