Down, Down, Down: A Journey To The Bottom of the Sea. By Steve Jenkins. 2009. [May 2009]. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 40 pages.
Can a book take you on a journey? This one can. (If you let it that is.) It will take you places where very few have gone. Jenkins takes readers on a journey into the depths--the dark depths--of the ocean.
Each spread offers readers information in an appealing and easily accessible way.
Glowing in the Dark
Nine of every ten animals live beneath the sunlit layer of the ocean are bioluminescent (by-oh-loo-muh-nes-uhnt) - they can produce their own light. Animals use bioluminescence to lure prey, confuse or startle attackers, or make themselves difficult to see. Animals also use light to attract a mate or send messages to one another. Because the ocean is so large and so many animals live here, bioluminescence is the most common form of animal communication on earth. Only the slightest glimmer of sunlight reaches this depth, and only animals with extraordinary sensitive eyes can detect it.
What an amazing book this is. The thing is if you'd asked me before I started it how interested I was in the ocean, in finding out more about ocean life, I would say not all that much. But reading this one, well, it made me interested, it made me curious. I'm so glad I read this one!
© Becky Laney of Young Readers
3 comments:
My girls and I thought this one was fantastic too. I loved the approach of going deeper into the ocean on each page spread and showing the depth along the side of the page.
I was riveted by the depth gauge on the right side of each page. Wow. And I thought space was far away -- so incredible to think we can go that far away from the ocean's surface AND still be on our planet!! =)
I love Steve Jenkins-amazing nonfiction, which helps get kids excited about reading!
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