Under the Sea

Written by Anna Milbourne

Illustrated by Cathy Shimmen

Usborne Books 2007

32 pages

Nonfiction

 

                               This is a book that will really capture your student's attention. It tells all about the ocean as well as all the life that inhabits it. It gives details and fun facts about the ocean its self and about all different kinds of creatures from coral reefs to sea turtles. It also includes things about the deepest parts of the ocean. This is one that really sparks the imagination. I chose this book because of all the beautiful colors and details on the cover.

                        I could not find what type of medium the illustrator used when creating the pictures for this book. I believe that they were created mainly with watercolors. Shimmen uses bright vibrant colors which makes each page stand out. She uses many different variations of blues for the ocean. Each illustration is filled with beautiful colors and many different creatures from the sea. This book has not received any awards.

                         One activity that would be fun for students would be to draw their choice of animals from the sea on a "four square paper." Under each picture they could sounds out the name of each animal to practice writing their on words. This book could be used during science when learning about the different things you see in the ocean. You could create a chart as a class with one category naming things you see in the ocean and a separate category naming things that you would not see in the ocean. You could also use animals and key terms from the story during reading time as words to segment and sound out with your students.