Children's Science Book Database

OCEANS Dolphins, sharks, penguins, and more!

Yes. Although this text does not explicitly say “observe this” and “classify these animals” or “infer here”, there are some subtle ways that the processes of science are fostered in this text. Because of the vast information in this text, students may observe photographs or descriptions of animals. They may also classify on their own the different kinds of ocean animals (in addition to the back of the book classifying animals based on their layers in the ocean).
  • Author: Johnna Rizzo
  • Year Published: 2010
  • ISBN: 1426306865

Science Topics

Minimum Suggested Grade Level

Maximum Suggested Grade Level

Summary

This book is an exciting and colorful explanation of ocean animal life. This book introduces 15 different kinds of animals who spend most or all of their time in the ocean.

Evaluation

  • Appropriateness: High
  • Authority: High
  • Accuracy: High
  • Liteary Artistry: Medium
  • Appearance: High

Questions

Does the book foster development of processes?

Yes. Although this text does not explicitly say “observe this” and “classify these animals” or “infer here”, there are some subtle ways that the processes of science are fostered in this text. Because of the vast information in this text, students may observe photographs or descriptions of animals. They may also classify on their own the different kinds of ocean animals (in addition to the back of the book classifying animals based on their layers in the ocean).

Does the book provide an opportunity for children to ask and answer their own questions?

Yes. Due to the photographs and information in this text, there are ample questions that may be sparked in children’s minds as well as opportunities for children to further investigate and answer their own questions. For example, while reading the section about rays, I was curious about what may provoke a ray to feel threatened as mentioned in the text. What kind of predators does the ray have? This book provides numerous platforms that children can further inquire and make inferences on.

Does the book encourage children to think for themselves?

To some extent yes and to some extent no. This is an expository text, so there is a lot of information just being given to the reader. This information is being transmitted through text, diagrams, drawing and photographs. So in this transmission of information, this text doesn’t seem to promote student thinking however, as mentioned in my answer above, the information in this text does a great job of acting as a starting point that may inspire students to make their own inquiry. So in this way, student thinking is promoting. Overall, I would say that although formal questions aren’t being asked, the book does promote children thinking for themselves because of the inquiry this text could promote.

Is the science topic addressed in ways that are appropriate to the lesson?

Yes. The topic of marine life is addressed in engaging photographs, diagrams, captions, and text. Its vocabulary and use of numbers in its representation of data, is pretty high level but definitely could be manageable to read in an older elementary setting, and even in a younger setting if the student is reading above grade level.

Is the content based on sound scientific principles? Is it accurate?

Yes. All of the content in this book is factual, scientific information. The scientific principles covered range from animal life in the ocean to aquatic ecosystems, to content on underwater volcanos.

Does the book distinguish between fact and fiction?

This is an example of literary non-fiction text so everything described in this book is fact and is presented as fact. So no there is no distinguishing between fact and fiction, but rather everything is presented as fact.

Are the illustrations clear and accurate?

Yes. There are definitely more photographs than illustrations in this text, however the illustrations are also represented in a clear and accurate way. One of the illustration notes that it’s not drawn to scale so even though the animal portrayed looks accurately drawn, it’s not to scale.

Is the book written at the level of your students?

Not all of my third graders would be able to read this text. Some of my third graders are reading at a Kindergarten level, so this would definitely be too challenging for them to read during independent practice but this could still be used for a read-aloud and my students would be able to comprehend the material in the text.

Is there a multicultural component? Is it free from stereotyping?

No. This book is strictly an informational text on ocean animals, so there is no mention of people and therefore is not a multicultural text. Because people are not represented in this text, there is no chance for stereotyping either. Because this text is focused on describing different animals in the ocean, the text is free from negatively representing groups of people.

Is the book free from gender bias?

Yes. There is no reference to people in this text so gender is also a topic that is consequently excluded from the text. There are a few pictures where you can see people in wet suits, however it’s impossible to tell whether they are male or female and there is no mention of it in the text.

Does the book show the close association between science and other disciplines?

My language arts class is guided by genre studies, so this could have definitely been included in our literary non-fiction study of instructional text. This book displays many text features that we focused on during our unit, and is a great example of instructional text.

Does the book present a positive attitude toward science and technology?

Yes. Although this text is informational, and there isn’t much bias intertwined in the text, the way that the book is formatted with bright colors, and interesting pictures all help engage students in delving into the text which displays a positive attitude towards science.