Review by Booklist Review
Creating an appropriately otherworldly setting, this intricately illustrated story takes place entirely underwater. Explorer Kai travels alone in her yellow submarine, Nessy. She goes out in her red diving suit to take a closer look at coral, synchronized fish swimming in shoals, and squid that look like they are chatting. Kai knew from childhood that she wanted to be an explorer, and now she does exactly that, traveling through all seven seas, monitoring conditions, and learning about the ocean environment. The text, translated from French, conveys the importance of caring for the ocean and its inhabitants through Kai's careful behavior. She moves unobtrusively through the water, gentle and thoughtful. The illustrations, rendered in blue and white except for yellow Nessy and Kai's red suit, are meticulously detailed and stunningly beautiful. A concluding spread depicts and labels 49 marine organisms. Kai is always pictured wearing her diving suit, but her sharp, pointy nose adds a touch of humor and humanity to the dreamy images.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The ocean's wonders enthrall a curious explorer in this immersive French import. In distinctively vivid white-on-dark-blue illustrations, Topolanski depicts seabeds teeming with marine life, from tiny eels poking out of a sandy patch to swirling drifts of jellyfish and squid amid coral gardens and thick forests of kelp. All this abundance surrounds Kai, a fascinated diver with paper-white skin who provides a sense of scale and whose heavy-duty orange suit supplies the only notes of color other than her diminutive yellow submersible Nessy, which disappears after a few pages, once Kai ventures out to explore. In the brief narrative, basic facts and Kai's strong responses to each moment's encounters lyrically intertwine: "Kai is mesmerized. Jellyfish don't have hearts or heads, yet they have existed for almost five hundred million years. These strange-shaped, transparent creatures look like visitors from another planet. They dance on the currents." Kai's "walk beneath the waves" soon comes to an abrupt end, but the author gives young readers thirsty for knowledge a final gift with a visual key identifying all the previously seen flora and fauna; aspiring explorers will be enchanted. A quick but intense tour of a world beneath the waves. (Informational picture book. 6-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
