Member Reviews
Again by the tireless Jen Green, with consultant Diva Amon, and this time nicely illustrated by Wesley Robins, this book tackles the massive oceans that Earth is blessed with - a subject which was touched on in her excellent My First Fact File Weather book I also review today. Again this is a print book, but I got only to review the ebook representation of it.
This book is the same length as the other one - about twenty pages, each devoted to an important aspect of a very important subject. It covers an overview of the five great oceans (and no, Ocean's 8 wasn't one of them), winds and waves, currents and tides, the ocean floor on which, (I read on the BBC news website in the middle of last May), a plastic bag was found at the bottom of the Marianas trench - some 35,000 feet down. Yes, we've even polluted that. The ocean floor is constantly on the move, believe it or not, as this book makes clear. Whether that will get rid of that bag, I don't know!
But I digress! the book covers the various levels in the ocean from sunlight surface to dark depths, as well as the littoral (literally!), food chains (not fast food!), coral reefs, icy ocean environments (which would sure feel nice as hot as it's been here recently!), animal journeys (including salmon, whales, and the Arctic tern), dangerous waters, rising seas, ships and boats (a brief history), exploration, and pollution. I recently had the pleasure of an ocean cruise and gained a refreshed appreciation for the sea, which I hope will be reflected in a novel I'm currently working on, but this book, aimed at children though it is, brought all of that back to me.
Once again the book has some pretty neat experiments for young children to undertake - safe and inexpensive. There's a sink or swim project to compare fresh and saline water, there's an experiment where you can make your own current, and even one where you can make your own tsunami! Just a small one. Probably won't bring your house down. I'm guessing...! There's a couple of pages devoted to rising sea levels due to climate change - and including a nice little experiment to see how your mini-sea level rises when ice melts.
For me, it would have been nice has this clarified that floating ice - like at the North Pole - will not contribute to sea level rise because it's already in the ocean, but melting ice on land - such as that on Greenland and the Antarctic will indeed cause a major sea-level rise if it all melts. But you can't have everything. Of course not! Where would you keep it?!
Overall I really liked this book and commend it as a worthy read. I appreciated that it tells the truth, and illustrates the text well, and colorfully. It's done in ways that will engage young children and educate them, and we all need an education about the oceans, it seems.
When engaging, descriptive, inviting written text that invites readers to learn about the world’s oceans teams up with vivid, clearly labeled, colorful illustrations, we have a winning book. Double page spreads first identify the world’s five great oceans and then introduce topics such as wind and waves, the ocean floor, coral kingdom, animal journeys, and more. Additional features include many hands-on activities that demonstrate things like waves, currents, melting ice caps, and erosion. Highly readable and well-illustrated.
Excellent!
I think this is a great title (and series) for homeschool curriculum and for STEM learning! I love the science experiments scattered throughout the pages to aid in the learning process. Wonderful, engaging illustrations and written with the right amount of facts for children, so to not overwhelm or bore.
I vote we have all information presented in this series style. Honestly the images are beautiful and colourful. The information is easy to understand and there is a lot of it. It is interactive and fun.
This is one of the most well done information books I have seen in a long time. I want to own this whole series for my kids.
My First Face File Oceans is a perfect book for little ones looking to learn more about a subject. My daughter is 5 and she really enjoyed the pictures and the fun facts. Lots of information without being overly wordy. I liked that there were hands-on activities scattered throughout (how to make waves in a bowl, how to make a current, etc). This book covered a lot of information in a way that young readers will find engaging!