Ocean Literacy: Clown Fish by Carol K. Lindeen

With the Pacific Ocean as our backyard, one of my school district's initiatives is to have "the most ocean literate students in the nation". My school district has partnerships with local science agencies such as the Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Hatchery Research Center (just to name a few) to focus on our ocean literacy initiative. To find out more about our efforts visit K-12 Ocean Literacy.

What's this Nerdy Book Club girl's contribution? Book reviews, of course.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****

We had our Ocean Literacy Symposium yesterday at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the Hatfield Marine Science Center. It was no big surprise to my husband that I spent money at the aquarium gift shop buying books. I selected Clown Fish by Carol K. Lindeen with Madeline in mind because she has been hugging a clown fish stuffed animal in bed (a gift from Grandma). 

Title: Clown Fish

Author: Carol K. Lindeen

Publisher: Capstone Press

Publication Date: January 2004, 2006

Genre/Format: Non-Fiction

Goodreads Summary: Fasten your flippers, we're diving into an underwater adventure! Dazzling color photography and simple text reveal the amazing world of creatures living under the sea.

Grade Level: PreK-2

Kristin's thoughts: When I read this with Maddie, she snuggled in tight for a good look at the photographs. The photography is vibrant and detailed in a way that Maddie asked questions about the other sea creatures in the photographs - I love how she was so curious and behaved like a little scientist with her questioning. She even went so far as to try to compare clown fish fins to human hands. The text is simple so held Maddie's preschooler attention span and would be a good fit for emergent readers. I am excited that this book is also available in Spanish.

Curriculum Connection: Clown fish live in coral reefs which are not found in the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean off of the Oregon coast. It would be interesting to compare the habitat of the coral reefs to our rocky, craggy, volcanic reefs. Perch and herring would make for good comparisons to the Clown fish for size and their adaptations that allow them to live in their specific environments.

Mentor Text Moment: I found a couple of examples of similes in the text.

Clown fish are about as big as a person's hand.

Sea anemones are animals that look like flowers.

 

I gave Clown Fish 3 of 5 stars. I liked it.