Under the Sea

Title: Under the Sea, Hidden World
Author: Claude Delafosse and Gallimard Jeunesse
Illusrtated: Pierre de Hugo
Published: Scholastic Inc, (first published in France)
Date: 1997
Summary: This book will take you into the ocean and discover the different sea creatures that live there.
Age Level: Primary (Kindergarten to 2nd grade)
Strengths: I like how this is a book where it not only talks about the different sea creatures that live in the ocean but the reader can be actively involved. There is a magic flashlight at the back of the book and there are some pages where it is lamenated, while the background is black. It's like a three way text and picture interconnection. The text is on one page, and the lamenated and black paper are on the other. With the flashlight, the reader can find the different animals described. They learn about the different creatures that live in certain parts of the ocean. For example, the reader starts on the shores, then goes deeper to the mid ocean all the way to the deep part, where the strangest sea creatures live (because it is so dark!). You also get to learn about fish in the tropics.
Concerns: I think there could have been more descriptions of each place as well as a description of other oceans as well, because there are many animals in this book that are common, but I guess since this is a beginner's book, this should show the basic, so the students won't get confused.
Comments: I think this is a very good story to start anyone who has an interest for the ocean. It not only involves reading but the reader is involved as well, trying to find the different sea creatures.