Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Alternating between horizontal and vertical orientations, this cheerful, witty, and absolutely enticing picture book offers two-page spreads featuring creatures from the deep blue sea: sharks, crabs, jellyfish, penguins, pufferfish, and dragonets, to name but a few. The oversize pages are filled from top to bottom with illustrations encompassing a palette of blues, ranging from deep blue to sky blue to dark purple to turquoise green well, you get the picture. Or no, actually, you probably don't; these drawings are unique in their crisp details and dizzying compositions. Even the index is surrounded by a lush array of sea life. As if the intricately detailed drawings aren't enough to pique interest, search challenges throughout the pages encourage additional engagement: readers are encouraged to locate 15 appearances of a reoccurring sardine (Watch out for imposters), find the two squid with extra-long tentacles, or distinguish an eel from a group of sea snakes (answer keys are provided, thank goodness). Satisfying one- or two-sentence captions offer definitions, insights, suitably gory details, and occasional bad puns. Factual and visually accurate, this sure-fire kid magnet should prompt a lot of interest and requests for multiple readings. Just be sure to allow plenty of time for poring over each page.--McBroom, Kathleen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This third title in the Big Book series focuses on ocean biodiversity. Opening spreads discuss sea animal families, sea creature locomotion, and how aquatic species breathe, followed by spreads devoted to specific animals. Zommer's illustrations are more whimsical than naturalistic-creatures peer at one another with expressive, close-set eyes-but fun, accompanying captions provide factual insights: "a tuna has a super streamlined body which helps it to glide through the water." Though Zommer doesn't give readers much geographical sense of different ocean regions, the scenes feature tonal shifts in water color, from pale, tropical blues to the "inky darkness" that is the domain of anglerfish, blobfish, and gulper eels; the portrait layout also enhances the sense of ocean depth. Zommer introduces a seek-and-find element ("Can you find... exactly the same sardine 15 times in this book?"), which will lead readers to discover additional facts and surprises within the teeming underwater scenes. Ages 4-up. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Denizens of the deep crowd oversized pages in this populous gallery of ocean life.The finny and tentacled sea creatures drifting or arrowing through Zommer's teeming watercolor seascapes are generally recognizable, and they are livened rather than distorted by the artist's tendency to place human eyes on the same side of many faces, Picasso-like. Headers such as "Ink-teresting" or "In for the krill" likewise add a playful tone to the pithy comments on anatomical features or behavioral quirks that accompany the figures (which include, though rarely, a white human diver). The topical spreads begin with an overview of ocean families ("Some are hairy, some have scales, some have fins and some are boneless and brainless!"), go on to introduce select animals in no particular order from sea horses and dragonets to penguins and pufferfish, then close with cautionary remarks on chemical pollution and floating plastic. The author invites readers as they go to find both answers to such questions as "Why does a crab run sideways?" and also a small sardine hidden in some, but not all, of the pictures. For the latter he provides a visual key at the end, followed by a basic glossary. A refreshing dive past some of our world's marine wonders. (index) (Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
