It's big. And blue.

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea,

To see what he could see, see, see,

And all that he could see, see, see,

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.

--children’s nursery rhyme

My littlest P just celebrated her second birthday. She is obsessed with all things from the sea, so an ocean-themed book was a perfect gift. I chose Julia Donaldson’s Tiddler: The story-telling fish, illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Donaldson is well known in Bristol, especially for The Gruffalo, which is HUGE here in the UK. Tiddler has bright undersea illustrations, fun repetitive rhyming, and a celebration of the power of a story—a really great read.

I think about the ocean a lot. Growing up in Florida, it is an omnipresent part of life: you spend weekends at the beach, you watch hurricanes churn their way across the blue expanse to arrive at a surprise point on the coast, and everyone is saving for a boat. The ocean is in peril, however—acidification, sea level rise, mass extinction—it sounds like the plot to a thriller. 

Children’s wonderment at the big blue can be channeled into care for its future. Do you have any ocean book recommendations?

More to explore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/us/florida-finds-itself-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-on-climate-change.html?_r=0

http://news.wgcu.org/post/global-climate-change-and-florida

http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/