OCEAN ANIMALS

Striking photographs illustrate this collection of marine animals, a sampling of remarkable creatures that live in and around the ocean.

This substantial revision of the author’s Oceans: Dolphins, Sharks, Penguins and More (2010) repeats much from the earlier volume, including the introduction by Sylvia Earle, the general description of the oceans of the world and their layers of life, and some of the informative text. New material has been added; the design has been spiced up; and old text rearranged and illustrated with different, beautifully reproduced action photographs. Separate, color-tabbed sections describe coral reefs, sharks and rays, marine mammals, whales and dolphins, marine reptiles, marine birds, and “bizarre creatures.” Interspersed are spreads on “ocean extremes” of various sorts (explorers are lowered to the polar ice on “ice buckets,” for instance). The reorganization makes better sense than the original’s, and the new material includes a section on habitats and a description of the National Geographic–sponsored Pristine Seas Project. Rizzo’s information is conversationally delivered, accurate, and likely to appeal. This new version capitalizes on children’s familiarity with the Disney Pixar marine world: a blue tang (like Dory) swims across the front cover; a clownfish (like Nemo) peeks out of the title O, and several more hide among anemones on the back cover. As before, it concludes with 20 sensible ways even landlocked readers can help protect the water world.

A child-friendly invitation to dive in.