ACROSS THE BIG BLUE SEA: An Ocean Wildlife Book

by Jakki Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

First published in Britain as The Deep Blue Sea, this is an extraordinary ocean wildlife book for beginners, in which the addition of a tiny boat--smaller than the eye of a blue whale or the bottlenose of a dolphin--creates anticipation by forecasting the journey. Wood (Animal Hullabaloo, 1995, etc.) charts the travels of a small toy boat as it bobbles in the surf off a California beach on its way to Australia, the Indian Ocean, the south of Africa, through the Sargasso Sea, and across the Atlantic, ending in a not-quite-around-the-world 25,000-mile journey to the southwest shores of Great Britain. Wind and ocean currents send the boat past manta rays and giant clams, flying fish and loggerhead turtles. Just above the line of water, single sentences of text suggest the barest outline of the boat's sojourn. The real story lies under the water where simple line drawings set against inky seas depict brown pelicans diving and puffer fish staring, gulper eels slithering and anglers waiting to lure prey. Each undersea creature is clearly labeled, matching pictures with names for easy identification. As curious as the macaroni penguins investigating the boat from an ice floe off the southern tip of Africa, children will learn a smattering of geography as they trace the boat's travels along a route marked with arrows in a final world map.

Pub Date: April 1, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 32

Publisher: National Geographic

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1998

Categories: CHILDREN'S