The Big Book of the Blue


By Yuval Zommer
Published June 5, 2018

Why we chose this book:
To learn about the ocean! The cover art caught my eye and the synopsis sounded like a great fit for my question machine, aka T. Thames and Hudson provided a review copy.

Mom's Review

A  captivating and visually stunning introduction to ocean life for young children.

The cover art set me up with high expectations. You should definitely judge this book by its cover! Not only is the art lovely and fun, but there is a sardine hidden on several pages that the reader must find. T loves playing hidden object games in books, and that has overshadowed the actual reading at times. We still haven't found all the sardines yet! The content is just as fun as the art. Two-page spreads introduce different creatures, such as crabs, seals, and deep-sea fish. Text is brief and interesting, just the right amount of information and just the right kind of information for three-year-old T. Did you know that there is a fish called a blobfish? It's shaped like a blob. T and I both learned some fun facts, and this is a book we can return to time and time again. Sometimes we are in a mood for a long story time, and reading cover to cover works well for that. Sometimes we just want to read a little bit, and picking a few creatures to cover works well for that. There is so much that it offers. Curious kiddos will love it.

Son's Review
(age 3)
While reading:
Son: Look, there's the swimmer! And there's the swimmer on another page. He goes to all spots in the book. I think he snorkels every day. I think he's wearing a blowhole.

Mom: It is kind of like a blowhole. That thing is called a snorkel, and it's how he can breathe.
_____________________________________________
Son: (pointing to seahorse's coronet): Is that his crown? I have a question. The question was why do you also like sea turtles?

Mom: It is like a crown, it's called a coronet. I like sea turtles because I think they are beautiful, and I think it is neat how they lay their eggs. And I also like seahorses. I think they're cute.
_____________________________________________
Son: I think that's interesting.

Mom: What do you think is interesting? Something about the jellyfish?

Son: Yeah. About the glowing dinner.
(Some glow to put other fish off their jellyfish-dinner plans.)
_____________________________________________
Son: Why are they called ogrefish? I think it's 'cuz they have fangs and ogres have fangs, too.

Mom: That's a good guess for why they're called ogrefish.

After reading:
Mom: Have you had a favorite animal?

Son: The favorite creature was this one [a whale].

Mom: Is there something really cool you learned?

Son: Why when the fish come to igvestigate do they [anglerfish] snap them up right away?

Mom: So that they can eat them fast before the fish escapes. If there was not a lot of food and a fish came right up to you, what would you do?

Son: I would run away. First I would eat the food and then I would run away. I would search for more food. Why does this fish have a light?

Mom: To attract fish to come up close so it can eat them. What's the coolest thing you've learned?

Son: I like this one [the angler fish]. What fish are these?

Mom: Those are blobfish. They have a squishy body.

Son: I have a question. The question is this: can they sting? I think they bite.

Mom: It doesn't say, but it doesn't look like they have stingers.

Son: I think they bite humans.

Mom: Oh, they are soooo soooo deep. You won't come into contact with one of those. They live deeper than people swim.

Son: I would like to come down here. I would investigate under the ocean. I would want to meet this one [the blobfish] 'cuz I would want to see what it does. Just the blobfish.



Comments