PLANET OCEAN

Dive with Annie Crawley through three strikingly different undersea worlds to see how climate change endangers them all.

“We all have a story to tell” photographer Crawley says. In her daily life, she teaches land-dwellers to dive in the ocean, encouraging them to appreciate it and to share its beauty—and its problems. Newman’s words and Crawley’s pictures do just that for young readers here, with a clear narrative that combines science, images, and the voices of young divers and Indigenous peoples to get across their point. “The ocean is us,” says Crawley; helping the ocean helps us all. An introduction points out that maps emphasize landmasses, dividing and diminishing the ocean, which, in truth, covers 70% of the Earth. Chapter by chapter, the writer follows the dive instructor and her team visiting the Coral Triangle in southeast Asia, the Salish Sea in western North America, and the Arctic at “the top of the world.” There are also intriguing photographs (alas, not all clearly captioned), maps and charts, and short essays introducing other photographers, activists, scientists, and even a composer, all of whom work to care for the ocean and to tell its story. QR codes lead to further illustrative videos on the publisher’s website. The range of nationalities represented and the inclusion of a variety of Indigenous voices make a particularly compelling argument that ocean health is a whole world problem. The backmatter includes tips on visual storytelling and actions readers can take to help the oceans.

Worth exploring in depth.