ONE NIGHTTIME SEA

This rhymed complement to Into the A, B, Sea: An Ocean Alphabet (2000) takes children above and below—sometimes far below—the waves with one blue whale calf, two humpbacks, and so on, up to ten turtle hatchlings, and then back down to one “brand-new seal pup.” Jenkins dims the colors of his amazingly lifelike animals only slightly to suggest nocturnal settings, and even in the higher numbers his paper collage scenes never look busy or overcrowded. Readers wondering how to pronounce “nudibranch,” or what’s up with the bits of fluff on the four spider crabs and the eight parrotfish will find answers and other factual tidbits in three pages worth of notes at the back. Appealing to novice enumerators and budding naturalists alike. (Picture book. 5-7)