OCEAN SEASONS

Unfurling the observation that seasonal cycles aren’t solely land-based phenomena, veteran naturalist Hirschi sails readers from one spring to the next along the northern Pacific coast. His text offers brief commentary on Carlson’s clear-toned, full-spread marine scenes—of kelp being eaten by urchins, which are in turn eaten by sea otters; of plankton blooms, salmon runs and seabirds; of humpback whales feeding on schools of small fish, turning southward when the surface temperature cools to calve in tropical waters, then returning northward “as sea plants begin to spread their sparkling growth once again.” Two spreads of fact “cards” (reproducible from the publisher’s website for cutting out) add further value to this excursion into the natural world. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)