Children’s Recommended Reading

An Underwater Friend is the story of a boy who realizes that a friendship can develop between any two individuals. It makes the reader aware that we all have feelings, and that we should treat everyone, including our animal friends, as we would want to be treated.

An Underwater Friend is a project of Fish Feel.

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This affecting picture book tells the story of Jake, a young boy on his first fishing trip with his grandfather. Jake makes a discovery when he meets Ava, an archerfish, caught on his line. Featuring vivid illustrations of Australian flora and fauna, Jake and Ava encourages young children to learn about and empathize with the unique archerfish.

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Alba the fish has spent her entire life collecting precious objects that drift down to the ocean floor. From delicate shells to brightly colored coral, each year on her birthday she gathers one more precious item. But over the years, Alba notices her collection is losing its sparkle and that the world is changing. There is trash everywhere! When, on her birthday hunt, something unthinkable happens, it seems like the plastic may have changed her ocean home forever. Is it too late?

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Poor Big Al! He just wants to make friends. And in the whole wide blue sea you can’t find a nicer fish. But because Big Al is large and scary-looking, the little fish are afraid to get to know him.What can he do? He tries everything he can think of — from disguising himself with seaweed to burrowing under the ocean floor so he’ll look smaller. But something always goes wrong, and lonely Big Al wonders if he’ll ever have a single friend. Then one frightening day, when a fishing net captures the other fish, Big Al gets the chance to prove what a wonderful friend he can be!

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Join Bubble on a counting adventure under the sea! Swim along with Bubble in the deep, blue sea! Follow Bubble on her adventure and discover turtles, starfish, crabs, and more. Lively rhyming text, bright, colorful illustrations, and shiny-foiled details invite young readers to have hands-on story time. Page after page, babies and toddlers will have fun counting all of Bubble’s new ocean friends.

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Coral’s Reef is a story written to help children learn about the gentle world beneath the sea. Black and white illustrations and cover art by Heleen Cornet.

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Join Turtle as he dives deeper and deeper into the ocean – what surprise will he find at the bottom? With flaps to lift and peek-through holes, there’s lots to spot, count and discover along the way.

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Fish has a wish. He wishes he were a bird so he could fly. He wishes he were a skunk so he could make a big stink. . . or a snake that says HISSSSSSSSS. But after enjoying a delicious mayfly snack, Fish realizes he’s happy exactly as he is.

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Clear, strong lines and radiant colors that seem to smile at the reader characterize Mies van Hout’s drawings. In Happy, Mies shows all the emotions a young child encounters. Each double page spread is devoted to one fish, showing a particular emotion with its name in lettering that expresses the same feeling. Swim into Happy where the dazzling fish sparkle against the dark background and let the images spark laughter and empathy.

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All young children love to play in the waves at the beach. Now here’s a Hello, World! board book that teaches them all about oceans and the creatures and plants that live there.

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Little Fish has all sorts of fishy friends in his underwater home, but loves one of them most of all.

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This book teaches children the importance of keeping our Earth clean. Telling a story of Max, a little green monster who doesn’t like cleaning up after himself at beach picnics. Max soon discovers on a scuba dive that not picking up trash affects his friends in the sea, and he sets out on a mission to protect our ocean from litter and pollution, while truly understanding what it means to be ‘green.’

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Adri promises to remember his parents’ words of wisdom about how to live his life, such as “Find your own way. You don’t have to follow the crowd” and “Make wishes on the stars in the nighttime sky.”

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Deep in the sea lives a happy school of fish. Their watery world is full of wonders, but there is also danger, and the little fish are afraid to come out of hiding . . . until Swimmy comes along. Swimmy shows his friends how—with ingenuity and team work—they can overcome any danger.

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Alongside everything the young oceanographer needs to know, Zommer’s charming illustrations bring to life some of the slipperiest, scaliest, strangest, and most monstrous underwater animals.

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From brightly colored corals to shimmering shoals of fish, the diversity of life on a coral reef is celebrated in this visually stunning picture book with a strong ecological message about the need to protect this most precious of environments. Through gentle rhyme and intricately etched artwork, it explores the life cycle, diversity and color of the coral reef ecosystem, as well as the threats the reef faces and what we can do to save it.

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The Gentle Sea was written – with humor and plenty of personal experiences – to help divers and snorkelers better understand the behaviors of the marine creatures they watch. “The undersea world, seen through the educated eyes and friendly fingers of Touch-the-Sea Dee.” Dr. Eugenie Clark

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Five sea creatures – a seal, seahorse, shark, turtle and whale – are explored through rhyme and pictures. With two spreads dedicated to each creature, adults will be able to read the short playful rhyme on each spread to children and look at the bright illustrations to teach them about their habits and environment.

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Mr. Fish and his friends have noticed something strange in their ocean—a big, big MESS! How did it get there? What can they do about it? The closer they look, the more they see where the mess came from . . . and they’ll have to work together to get rid of it. This newest jacketed hardcover in the New York Times–bestselling Pout-Pout Fish series will teach little guppies how to take responsibility for their actions and for the environment.

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Eye-catching foil stamping, glittering on every page, offers instant child appeal, but it is the universal message at the heart of this simple story about a beautiful fish who learns to make friends by sharing his most prized possessions that gives the book its lasting value.

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Featuring fascinating fishy facts accompanied by bright, bold, and beautiful illustrations, this book takes children on a journey through the sea and all its zones. The Sea Book explores a wealth of incredible marine animals and their habitats, from up on the ice, down to colorful coral reefs, underwater forests, and right down to the deepest darkest depths where the weird and wonderful lurk.

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In this playful, rhyming celebration of the marine world, readers can explore all of the wondrous things the sea knows. It knows huge whales and small krill; it knows short crabs and tall giant kelp; it knows brightly colored starfish in shallow pools; and in the inky depths it knows the alluring jewel of an anglerfish’s glowing lure.

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In Touch the Sea Scarr shares her interactions with marine friends, including moray eels Adelle Davis and Popcorn, peacock flounder Oliver Twist, and Cheryl Tiegs Shark. Nonfiction, color photographs.

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Who Lives in the Ocean is a novelty book from Top That Publishing for preschool children. Read the simple question on each page, then slide the tab or lift the flap to reveal the answer. Children will watch in delight as the ocean animals appear! From a cute dolphin to an enormous whale, the sliders, flaps and bright, friendly illustrations combine to create a magical reading experience.

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