Tag: marine life

Posted in Non-Fiction, picture books

THREE gorgeous books for Earth Month!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Happy Earth Month, everyone! Enjoy two beautiful nonfiction picture books to share with your readers.

Monarch and Mourning Cloak: A Butterfly Journal, by Melissa Stewart & Sarah S. Brannen, (March 2026, Beach Lane Books), $19.99, ISBN: 9781665962711

Ages 4-8

Sibert Honor recipients Stewart and Brannen combine poetry, art, and facts to create a beautiful book about two types of butterflies: the monarch and the mourning cloak. Just looking at the two, they look similar – they’re butterflies, right? – but their differences make them as fascinating as their different colors. They live in different habitats, eat different foods, have different ways to ward off predators, and hibernate differently. Lovely, evocative poetry over watercolor, pen, and pencil illustration brings readers to the butterflies’ world. Using palette samples to show readers the consideration going into the colors used, we get a view of the artist’s and author’s journals, featuring a coffee stain here; a taped-down poem there; a drawing of a tree that takes life across the page. Stewart and Brannen explore the life cycles of each butterfly, accompanied by verses full of wonder and contrast: “Packed tight, / in plain sight, / monarchs hibernate”, and “Tucked tight, / out of sight, / a mourning cloak hibernates. / Shhhh”.

Back matter includes notes on creating a journal and sketchbook and notes on butterflies. Endpapers each sneak a peek at the butterflies’ life cycles and where they live. Get this book on a display and watch your readers flock to it, and for everyone thinking of summer reading programs, a nature journal sounds tailor-made for this book! Monarch and Mourning Cloak has a starred review from Kirkus.

 

The Secrets of the Jellies: Amazing Jellyfish and Their Surprising Talents, by Karen Jameson/Illustrated by Marie Hermansson, (April 2026, Chronicle Books), $19.99, ISBN: 9781797221977

Ages 5-8

Think you know jellyfish? This rhyming romp through the ocean is filled with fun facts about jellies that will astound and amazed. Paired with vibrant digital illustrations that bring action and movement to each spread, this is a book made for an ocean storytime: “See-through jellies, / bright ones, too- / colors in each shade and hue! / And in the darkness, down below, / they radiate a blue-green/ GLOW!” The fonts grow large to emphasize exclamations that punctuate each spread and readers will love seeing these colorful jellyfish dash across the pages, evading predators or travel with fish in their wake. Back matter includes fun jellyfish facts and identifies each jellie featured in the book. Endpapers show a diverse group of families marveling at tanks of jellies at a lively aquarium. Great for a STEM storytime or a fun summer storytime!

 

 

Awe!, by Chana Stiefel/Illustrated by Susan Gal, (March 2026, Scholastic Press), $19.99, ISBN: 9781546150350

Ages 4-8

Okay, this isn’t SOLELY Earth-related, but it fits because it’s all about AWE – not ‘awwww’, like when you see an adorable kitten, as author Chana Stiefel so deftly points out, but AWE: that incredible feeling you get when you witness something incredible that leaves you speechless and filled with emotion. Or, as Stiefel puts it, “… an Awesome / Wondrous / Empowering emotion”! Gal uses pencil, ink, and watercolor to create awe-inspiring illustrations of a whale breaching, the Northern Lights, and a giant city. But awe doesn’t mean the things we witness are huge – the emotions are, but we can be awestruck by seeing baby turtles run for the water and by a religious ceremony, or by helping others. Awe is all around us, waiting to be discovered; it’s up to us to find it, and that is the message at the heart of this story: “welcome those chills traveling down your spine, / welcome those sudden tears in your eyes”. A perfect read-aloud that celebrates the large and small moments around us. If you haven’t purchased this for your collection yet, buy two. They’ll move, especially with a gorgeous gatefold spread showing the beauty of the Grand Canyon.

Awe! has a starred review from Kirkus.

Posted in Intermediate, Non-Fiction, picture books

Whazzat? You want MORE book suggestions? Happy Holidays, I got you.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

You need kids’ books? I have recommendations!

For the kid who loves cars and trucks and things that go:

Big Bertha: How a Massive Tunnel Boring Machine Dug a Highway under Seattle, by Amanda Abler/Illustrated by Katy Wu, (Sept. 2024, Little Bigfoot), $18.99, ISBN: 9781632173065

Ages 7-10

Have an emerging middle grader who loves reading about heavy machinery and vehicles? Big Bertha is the book for them: an earthquake rocks Seattle, Washington in 2001, damaging an elevated highway by the city’s waterfront. If another quake were to hit, the roadway could be at danger of collapsing. The decision was made to replace the highway with a double-decker tunnel running underneath the city. Bertha is the huge tunnel boring machine – the height of a 5-story building! – built in Japan and brought to Seattle to dig and build the tunnel. Named for a former Seattle mayor, Bertha is depicted as massive; readers will be amazed at her scale and power. Deputy Project Manager Greg Hauser and his crew, dedicated to the project, took sleeping shifts and stayed with Bertha all the way, even sleeping in shifts to stay with her as she worked. Do you know kids who love building with LEGO and blocks? Do they construct cities in Minecraft and Roblox? Readers interested in engineering and heavy machines will be fascinated by Bertha, who “chewed up dirt and boulders, removing the earth ahead of her” while her “red erector arms pieced together arcs of concrete to form the outer walls” of the tunnel. Back matter includes a photo of Bertha and her crew; numbers, and facts about the machine and the construction.

Big Bertha has a starred review from Booklist.

 

For the future marine biologist:

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic, by Candace Fleming/Illustrated by Deena So’oteh, (Oct. 2024, Anne Schwartz Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9780593377789

Ages 4-8

Is there anything Candace Fleming can’t do? She writes picture books, novels, fiction, non-fiction, and she’s a conservationist, making her a super human being in my book. Fleming’s newest work is a lyrical piece about a year in the life of a narwhal. Fleming combines nonfiction description with storytelling verse, with playful descriptions – “You are… . shy, / swift, / small (for a whale)” and detailed: “your tusk… / a single / twisting / rod of ivory / that sprouts from your upper left jaw”. The narwhal moves with his pod through the seasons, following food and avoiding danger. So’oteh’s digital illustrations bring the clear cold of the Arctic to beautiful life, with brilliant blues and greens and murky blues showcasing the underwater world. A gatefold displays an incredible narwhal pod dive that will delight readers, and near escapes from a pod of killer whales on the hunt, being stuck under the ice, and discovery by a polar bear! This is picture book nonfiction done spectacularly well and is perfect for readers who love animal stories.

Narwhal has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Horn Book.

 

For the stargazer:

The Mathematics of the Universe, by Soledad Romero Mariño/Illustrated by Renee Hao, (Oct. 2024, Schiffer Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9780764368387

Ages 5-9

Verse, quotes, and beautiful illustrations come together to explain the patterns of our universe, from the spiral of a snail’s shell to the swirl of a galaxy. It’s a beautiful introduction to STEM and mathematics, inviting readers to explore concepts like spheres and hexagons, symmetry and spirals, and inviting readers to look closer at nature and unpack the mysteries they see: “The universe seems in such disarray, / but it follows an order, not one thing astray”.

Want to show your readers more about mathematics in nature? The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has some great photos that explain these concepts, too!

 

 

Reaching for the Stars: A Mission to Space, by Roxanne Troup, Amanda Lenz, (Aug. 2024, Schiffer Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9780764368172

Ages 4-8

A space exploration story in rhyming verse! A group of explorers head to the stars in this fun story with dynamic illustration that blends art with actual NASA space photographs. “What will we find light-years away, / beyond the expanse where our planets play?” Constellations, nebulae, and meteor showers, for starters! The group introduces new space vocabulary to readers and features a diverse cast of explorers. Great for a STEM storytime or a space storytime, and excellent to pair with Roda Ahmed and Stasia Burrington’s Mae Among the Stars (2018).

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep at Night? Fun for bedtime and storytime

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep at Night?, by Steven J. Simmons & Clifford R. Simmons/Illustrated by Ruth E. Harper, (Apr. 2024, Charlesbridge Publishing), $17.99, ISBN: 9781623542979

Ages 3-7

Ocean animals sleep just like land animals do – and like kids do, too! This rhyming story is nonfiction that reads like a bedtime story and will appeal to younger learners. Beginning and closing with human children to place the reader in the story, Simmons and Simmons weave a playful rhyme that delves into the sleeping habits and underwater areas of a plethora of sea creatures including stringrays, whales, sharks, and octopuses. The story educates as it charms, giving readers interesting facts like “A clownfish can wiggle and do a dance. / It eats tiny animals and also plants. / It lives in anemones that keep away foes; / these homes are poison, and other fish know. / But for the clownfish it’s safe to stay, / and here it sleeps at the end of each day”. Harper’s realistic watercolor illustrations show the colorful range of different underwater flora and fauna, with gorgeous texture that brings life to every spread (seriously – I want a print of the octopus spread). Beginning with a group of children enjoying a day at the beach and playing with toys of the very animals we meet throughout the story, and closing with the kids winding down for a good night’s sleep – with their sea friends nest to them as they drift off in their “nice, dry bed[s]”, this is a great choice for bedtime, pajama storytimes, or under the sea-themed storytimes. Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep at Night? is the third book in a series that includes Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night and Where Do Big Creatures Sleep at Night? and is a fun addition to early nonfiction collections.

I Heart Crafty Things has adorable Sea Creatures coloring pages for a post-storytime activity. LucyJaneLovesLearning on TeachersPayTeachers has free sea creature student name tags, if you have large storytime groups and do name tags.

 

EDITED TO ADD: There’s a downloadable activity kit for Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night? Download it here!

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Odder will melt your heart

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Odder, by Katherine Applegate/Illustrated by Charles Santoso, (Sept. 2022, Feiwel & Friends), $16.99, ISBN: 9781250147424

Ages 8-12

Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate does it again. Odder is the “Queen of Play”: a curious young otter who loves to play in the water and wander where she really shouldn’t. While splashing in the water with her best friend, Kairi, they have a run-in with a hungry great white shark, and Odder is injured. Rescued by the same humans that saved her as an otter pup, the story takes an introspective turn as Odder confronts truths about herself and life in the ocean. Inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that rescues otters, Applegate creates movement and emotion through her verse: “…there is time for a bit of deep diving / wave chasing / tail spinning / smooth gliding / bubble blowing / FUN”; “She doesn’t just swim to the bottom, / she dive-bombs. / She doesn’t just somersault / she triple-doughnuts. / She doesn’t just ride the waves, / she makes them”. Applegate makes strong points about conservation and throughout the story and in her author’s note, which provides background on her inspiration for Odder. Charles Santoso’s black and white illustrations guarantee that you’ll need to stock your nonfiction section with more books on otters; kids will fall in love with gentle story. A glossary helps readers with new vocabulary. Visit Katherine Applegate’s author website for more about her books and educator resources.

Education.com has some otter-related coloring sheets and worksheets for a book club or STEM extension activity.

Odder has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Over and Under the Waves explores the ocean

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Over and Under the Waves, by Kate Messner/Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, (Sept. 2022, Chronicle Kids), $18.99, ISBN: 9781797203478

Ages 4-7

Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal’s latest Over and Under story explores the ocean ecosystem. Narrated in the first person by a child while out rowing with their family, we encounter sea lions sunning on the rocks, birds soaring overhead, and a mother and baby otter cuddling among the kelp. A glimpse below the water reveals an entirely different, bustling world: shimmering fish and bristly urchins; lurking eels and drifting jellies, and a giant surprise! There’s a sense of wonder in Messner’s storytelling, beautifully translated by Neal, who creates spread after spread of mixed media realistic ocean life. The family is present only to help place the reader in the story; nature takes center stage, with the human characters occasionally appearing from the side of the spread, or from far above to provide perspective. Endpapers show sea stars, fish, and shells in white silhouette across a field of deep blue. An author’s note describes Messner’s inspiration for the tale, and an “About the Animals” section provides a brief informational paragraph on each animal in the story. Recommended books and websites direct readers to further reading. A thoughtful meditation on the ocean, and an excellent addition to both this series and STEM/STEAM and nature collections.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Bloom: Let the jellyfish lead you!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Bloom, by Julia Seal, (March 2022, Sunbird Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9781978833586

Ages 4-8

Inspired by true events and climate change, Bloom is the story of climate change and activism from a jellyfish’s point of view. Luna, a young jellyfish, returns from travel and discovers a very different seascape from the one she left: her friends are missing from their reef, and the area is warmer, and there is litter everywhere! Even her friend Hermit’s “new shell” is made of debris! One little jellyfish may not be able to garner a lot of notice, but an entire bloom of jellyfish will sure get notice!

Julia Seal tells the story of a plucky, determined jellyfish while calling attention to the very real problems of pollution and climate change. Her art is cheerful and colorful, wish soft lighting and around her sea life, particularly the jellyfish. The upbeat artwork highlights how marine life can often confuse pollution for part of their environment: the turtle thinks a plastic bag is strangely flavored food; Luna mistakes pollution for fish and fellow jellies. Luna and her jellyfish friend band together to make their statement, even spelling out “Save Our Oceans” off the shore of a beach, where humans can see it. It reinforces strength in numbers and positive activism. (Just make sure to tell kids that if they see jellyfish massing in real life, it’s probably not a great idea to go near them!)

Great for the Oceans of Possibilities Summer Reading theme, and great for discovery/STEM clubs and your climate change collections. Talk to kids about the problems with plastics and our oceans. NatGeo Kids has an excellent webpage that lists numbers and posts photos. Kids can learn more about jellyfish at this NatGeo Kids’ webpage, too. Visit publisher Sunbird Books’s Bloom book detail page and download free activity sheets.

Posted in Uncategorized

This is a Kobee Manatee Virtual Book Tour Stop!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The fourth Kobe Manatee adventure takes Kobee and friends, Tess the Seahorse and Pablo the Hermit Crab, to Belize on a mission to help Kobee’s cousin clean up plastic pollution so she can open up her new underwater bistro. As the friends are on their way, they see for themselves what plastic pollution looks like, as they help rescue a turtle with a plastic bag wrapped around her, and see the effects of climate change around them. As they dodge some scary marine life and discover the amazing Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize, what started as a quick trip to help out a family member turns into a big adventure with lots to learn!

Kobee Manatee: Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard, by Robert Scott Thayer/Illustrated by Lauren Gallegos
(Sept. 2021, Thompson Mill Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9780997123999
Ages 4-8
There have been a spate of children’s books confronting climate change and pollution, particularly focused on single-use plastic, lately, and with good reason. It’s killing our planet and suffocating our oceans. Kobee Manatee and his friends are the latest group to confront the plastic menace; artwork shows plastic ever-present in the details – a discarded water cooler bottle here, plastic bags and straws there – and a subplot directly involves a bag that wraps around a poor turtle. The story is about exploration and friendship, too, as Kobee and friends are heading toward Belize to help his cousin open her underwater cafe. The story includes fun facts on every page, and story details provide further insight into sea life, like a Portuguese Man of War – not a jellyfish! – and how underwater life is affected by climate change. Colorful illustrations are kid-friendly, and the underwater world is vibrant and beautiful, hopefully inspiring readers to fight to cut down on plastic use and pollution.

Follow Kobee’s author, Robert Scott Thayer, on Twitter and Instagram (where you’ll also discover a giveaway!)!

Follow Illustrator Lauren Gallegos on Twitter and Instagram! See more of Lauren Gallegos’s artwork at her website.

BOOK DETAILS

Kobee Manatee® Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard

ISBN: 9780997123999 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 9780997123951 (eBook)

32 Pages and 4th Installment in the Award-Winning Kobee Manatee® Children’s Educational Picture Book Series

Publish Date: September 28, 2021

Publisher: Thompson Mill Press

Where to Buy: https://www.amazon.com/Kobee-Manatee-Climate-Change-Hazard/dp/0997123990/ref=sr_1_2?crid=NLRPRF5R2OZP&dchild=1&keywords=kobee+manatee&qid=1631112443&sprefix=Kobee+Manatee%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-2

Price: $17.99 Hardcover

Visit other stops on the Kobee Blog Tour!

Posted in Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade

The Ocean Strikes Back in Super Sidekicks #2!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis
Super Sidekicks #2: Ocean’s Revenge, by Gavin Aung Than, (July 2021, RH Graphic), $12.99, ISBN: 9780593175125
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
The second book in the Super Sidekicks graphic novel series is all about the sidekicks standing on their own. The world’s leaders and the superhero grownups have been captured by The Mother of the Sea, who’s sick and tired of the damage us humans are wreaking on the planet, and it’s up to Junior Justice (JJ), Flygirl, Dinomite, Goo, and Ada, the most intelligent belt buckle in the universe, to save things and start the world on a better path. Mother of the Sea has put together a Trash Titan – a giant monster created out of all the trash from the Pacific Ocean – and wants to destroy all the land dwellers, so talking her down is going to take all of the skills the Sidekicks have at their disposal!
This is a perfect series for readers who are moving up from chapter books. It’s a fast-paced adventure story with fun superheroes who show the adults a thing or two about respecting kids and the planet. Illustrations are colorful, and the beginning of the story carries incredible weight: drifting trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; seagulls feeding plastic bottle caps to their babies; a sea turtle swimming with a plastic soda ring around its neck. Watching the Trash Titan form from the tons of junk polluting the waters, you kind of want to root for the Mother of the Sea. Naturally, the adults are all clueless, but the kids know what’s up! Empowering kids to save the world one piece of junk at a time, Super Sidekicks: Ocean’s Revenge includes tips on reducing our trash footprint, and tips on how to draw Dinomite and Goo.
Posted in Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Escaping Greenland: The #WonderListAdventures continue

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Escape Greenland (The Wonder List Adventures #2), by Ellen Prager, Ph.D./Illustrated by Tammy Yee, (Apr. 2021, Tumblehome Learning), $13.95, ISBN: 978-1-943431-70-0

Ages 9-13

The second book in Dr. Ellen Prager’s new Wonder List Adventures takes siblings Ezzy and Luke to the next stop on their mother’s “Wonder List”: Greenland. The siblings and their father, who are visiting the places their mother wanted them to see for her when she passed away. After visiting the Galápagos Islands and finding themselves in the middle of a poaching ring in Escape Galápagos (2019), they’re hoping for a calmer vacation in Greenland. No such luck, my friends. Dr. Skylar, Ezzy’s and Luke’s dad, is called away to help out an injured researcher, just as the siblings overhear a plot to attract tourism by speeding up the melting of a glacier and find themselves in some very unfriendly company! In between once-in-a-lifetime adventures like seeing humpback whales breach (and being under them when they’re eating!), playing with puppies and getting a ride from sled dogs, they’re on the run from some pretty scary bad guys. Dr. Prager creates likable, interesting characters and uses her wealth of knowledge about marine science and climate change to put readers in the middle of the story with them. Settling her stories in incredible locales, she encourages environmental awareness by creating a love for the natural wonders of our planet and by spotlighting the very real types of people who would wreak ecological havoc through illegal and shady business practices, Dr. Prager sets readers’ sights on the big villain: personal gain.

The Wonder List Adventures is a good series to recommend to your Nat Geo Explorer Academy readers and your Carl Hiaasen readers. And fans of her previous series, Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians, will love the little Easter Egg she put in there!

 

Posted in Intermediate, Non-Fiction

Do You Know? Reference books for younger readers!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Twirl Books has so many great new books coming out for younger readers. The board books coming out via the imprint are interactive and encourage new and developing readers to imagine and explore, and their desk reference series, “Do You Know?”, are just what early school-age kids need when they want to dig into a subject, maybe for the first time.

Do You Know? Dinosaurs and the Prehistoric World, by Pascale Hédelin, (Apr. 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9782408024673

Ages 5-8

Do You Know? Dinosaurs and the Prehistoric World gives kids what they want: information about dinosaurs in a picture-heavy format. A visual table of contents serves as a road map to discovery: Types of Dinosaurs, Popular Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Life, Life Without Dinosaurs, and More To Know sections bring kids right to the areas they’re interested in. Bold black fonts are easy to read and pop off the white page, and realistic dinosaur artwork shares space with cartoony artwork, along with cartoony kids, to explain fun facts versus science facts. Easy to understand diagrams show kids different parts of a dinosaur, and an added section on when dinosaurs lived show cartoony dinosaurs being puzzled at interacting with human children or frightened of a dinosaur they come across that lived at a different time. A Let’s Review! section at the end of each chapter offers fun activities to enhance learning.

 

Do You Know? Oceans and Marine Life, by Stéphanie Babin, (Apr. 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9782408024666

Ages 5-8

Similar in overall layout to Do You Know? Dinosaurs and the Prehistoric World, Do You Know? Oceans and Marine Life is all about underwater life: sections on Oceans, Seas, and More!, A Day by the Ocean, A Day at the Beach, Ocean Vehicles, Marine Animals, and More to Know brings the ocean and ocean life to the reader. Each section has a “Let’s Review” area with extra learning activities, and colored boxes at the bottom right of each page direct readers to related subjects in other areas of the book. Cartoony kids hang out with polar bears, deep sea dive with a school of fish, and sail a tugboat through spreads on warm waters, The Blue Planet, and water sports. Sidebars explain what sand is, what to eat at a picnic, and what to do if you’re afraid of the water. Infographics explain the water cycle and underwater food chain.

Each book has a full index and is a great desk reference for emerging readers. My Kiddo has absconded with my copies, if that’s any clue!