OCEAN ANIMALS FROM HEAD TO TAIL

A guessing game introduces curious ocean animals from hammerhead sharks to sea horses.

Each animal is presented in a pair of double-page spreads. The first shows part of an animal's body and asks, "What ocean animal has a [body part] like this!" Clean, collage illustrations (created digitally with original photographs and textures) show an eye, mouth, fin, and so forth against a white background. The entire animal, set against a stylized version of its ocean habitat, appears on the second spread along with its name and a short informational paragraph. The relatively simple text nicely explains the purpose of the particular feature and, often, how it works. The animals chosen are iconic and memorable, including a colossal squid, blue whale, moray eel, sailfish, green sea turtle, and sea anemone. A final spread introduces eight more animals with interesting and unusual body parts. The information is accurate and up-to-date, but no sources are given. The collages are reminiscent of the work of Steve Jenkins but not as finely detailed. Large, round eyes attract attention, and the sea horse with its tail curled around a seaweed stem is particularly appealing. These pictures show well; this would be ideal to spark some interaction at storytime.

For toddlers and preschoolers, an inviting opportunity to swim into the underwater world.