How Deep Is the Ocean?

by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, Eric Puybaret (Illustrator)

Overview

The ocean covers almost three-quarters of the Earth, but how deep does it go? Put on your scuba gear and explore the ocean, from its shallowest waters to its deepest, most mysterious parts. As you dive deeper, you’ll discover glowing animals, strange creatures that don’t need sunlight to survive, and even the largest hunter in the world. 

With beautiful illustrations and engaging text, How Deep Is the Ocean? will guide young readers into the deepest parts of the ocean. Featuring a find-out-more section with a water-pressure experiment, a lesson in making a sounding line to learn how scientists measure the depth of the ocean, a glossary of new terms, and web research prompts, this book will begin children’s explorations of the deep sea. Both the text and the artwork were vetted for accuracy by Dr. David Gruber, real-life deep sea explorer and professor of biology and environmental science at Baruch College.

This is a Level 2 Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science title, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062328199
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/05/2016
Series:	Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Series: Level 2
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld is the award-winning author of more than seventy books for children.  She has written several books in the Let’s Read And Find Out Science series, including:  WHAT LIVES IN A SHELL?, an NSTA/CBC “Outstanding Science Trade Book” and winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s “Best Children’s Book” award; WHAT IS THE WORLD MADE OF?, a Children’s Book of the Month Club Main Selection; WHAT’S ALIVE?, also named an AAAS “Best Children’s Book”;  HOW MOUNTAINS ARE MADE, an NSTA/CBC “Outstanding Science Trade Book,” DINOSAUR TRACKS, "a great choice for even the most discriminating dinophiles" (School Library Journal); and DINOSAURS BIG AND SMALL, winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio “Best Book Award”

Kathleen was a children’s book editor for over ten years before becoming a full-time writer.  When she is not reading, researching, writing, or editing she loves to spend her free time exploring, doing fieldwork, and preparing and curating fossils for her local natural history museums.  She lives in Berkeley, CA.

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2016
K-Gr 3—This informative and richly illustrated volume brings to life the awe-inspiring vastness of the oceans. Readers follow a boy and girl as they venture from the shore's edge into the sea's sunlight zone (using scuba gear) to learn about phytoplankton and photosynthesis. The pair descend via a submersible into the twilight, the midnight, the abyssal, and, finally, the seldom-seen Hadal zone inside the Mariana Trench (nearly seven miles deep). At each level, the text describes how the children feel (the water pressure increasing as they scuba dive down to 100 feet) and what they see (meticulously labeled specimens, such as the sperm whale, the pink vent eelpout, the strawberry squid, and the tripod fish). Puybaret's illustrations, painted in vivid acrylics, are superbly detailed and visually intriguing. The artwork is so precise that detail-oriented viewers won't miss photographs. Math lovers will appreciate the mention of sizes and depths interspersed throughout the text. An ocean depth chart, graphs, suggested experiments, and a list of Internet resources for further study address multiple learning styles while facilitating expanded exploration of the topic. Kids will build vocabulary with terms such as bioluminescence, hydrothermal vents, and chemosynthesis. VERDICT This selection does not sacrifice appeal for information; a good addition for all science collections.—Suzanne LaPierre, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

2016-05-18
A straightforward dive into the watery abyss, with passing views of some select exotic residents.Starting at the tide line, Zoehfeld squires two young explorers—light-skinned, in Puybaret's steadily darkening paintings (though an initial crowd of beach visitors shows more color range)—into the deep. They go from ankle-deep waters to scuba territory and then in a submersible on down to the Hadal Zone's pitch-black depths. Along with helpful signposts ("YOU HAVE REACHED THE TWILIGHT ZONE") and a digestible quantity of identifying labels, budding naturalists will find matter-of-fact descriptions of characteristic creatures at each level, with special focus on the adaptations that allow them to survive. Highlights (lowlights?) include close-ups of giant tube worms clustered around a hydrothermal vent and a dramatic encounter between a giant squid and a sperm whale. A pair of low-effort science activities and a glimpse at how ocean depths have been measured round out the expedition. Readers will surface with not only a better understanding of the diversity of ocean life, but a firmer grasp of how little we really know about vasty deeps that have seen fewer human visitors than has space.A watertight addition to the venerable Let's Read and Find Out collection. (websites) (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews