Cover Image: Atlas of Ocean Adventures

Atlas of Ocean Adventures

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Member Reviews

Absolutely gorgeous. Well illustrated but also very interesting. Lots to see and learn here. So glad I had a chance to view this one!

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I love reading anything about the aquatic environment even if I know half of the informations.

The art covered the whole page which was really nice though I didn't find the animals doing and wearing human stuff that quirky.

My only problem with the book is how tiny the fonts are and I don't like how they were positioned. Sometimes they're barely visible because of where it's placed above the art.

Overall, besides my problem with the font, I loved how the animals are introduced based on which ocean it's from and the importance of Oceans and how to protect them.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

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A beautifully illustrated look at the oceans that make up the earth and the life that lives within it. It’s a book that will grow with a child and become a useful source of information as they begin to study geography.

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This offers a nice selection of double-sized spreads of underwater life, along with a few instances of notable animal activity around our oceans. So we get blue-footed booby dances, and more, but the majority is underwater, all hunting and shooting and fishing – and yes, there are creatures here that could be said to do each of those. The main subject gets an introductory paragraph, and a diagram portraying specific details of their anatomy, while the spreads themselves are peppered with factoids, some of which form a narrative and have to be read in the right order, which is never possible to discern, unfortunately. On the whole, however, they make self-contained statements and even if you drift confusingly from one topic, say a specific anglerfish, to talk about another, you can learn a lot. I'm not sure the same could be said of the octopus playing a violin, or the bioluminescent lifeforms toting their own oil lamps. Details like that really kind of negate the firm science elsewhere, meaning this is ill-balanced. Well-meaning, and generally very successful, but a tad ill-balanced.

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Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group- Wide Eyed Editions for a temporary digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Atlas of Ocean Adventures’ written by Emily Hawkins and illustrated by Lucy Letherland in exchange for an honest review.

The stunning cover with swirling creatures reads:
“Plunge into the depths of the ocean and discover wonderful sea creatures, incredible habitats, and unmissable underwater events”. The book is organised around the seven oceans.

Inside are 30 full colour scenes that teem with life and information about sea mammals, fish, birds and other creatures and their habitats.

Lucy Letherland’s illustrations are breathtaking in their detail and quite playful in places. Hawkins’ text fits perfectly into the illustrations and provides fascinating facts. A final section notes the threats to the oceans and its wildlife from plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change and provides practical ways to help.

This is a perfect book to introduce children to the wonders of the seven seas. As children both my brother and myself were obsessed with the ocean and marine life and grew up environmentally aware. I know how delighted I would have been to had such a book.

While marketed as for ages 7 and up, I could imagine younger readers being excited about it as well.

I understand that this is the fifth in the ‘Atlas of Adventure’ series of natural history books. They all look amazing and certainly perfect choices for home, school and public libraries.

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Talks about different animals in a certain ocean - Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, southern and artic. Talks about other things like oceans in danger. A little can you spot game - answers at end.

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Informative, With An Inviting Layout

This is a very well designed intro to ocean creatures. Lots of such books follow an encyclopedia format, or look like textbooks with lots of sidebars, font changes, and stock photos. This book moves in a different direction.

Each topic or subject gets a two-page splash. The splash is one single illustration, (cavorting spinner dolphins, a leatherneck turtle, a lantern fish bait ball, a unique underwater feature). One line factoids are scattered throughout the drawing. There are bits of graphic business around the edges that highlight other fact features, (including a small map insert that displays the creature's range). The upshot is that there is a great deal of visual appeal, but also a fair amount of easily understood information.

The tone is just right. The narrative style is inviting and a bit casual, but not sappy or jokey. The drawings aren't photo realistic, but they aren't cartoony either. The feel is more like a colored field journal, which is an engaging and attractive compromise.

There are 37 topics covered. They are organized by ocean, so for each set of topics you start with an introduction to that ocean, and then move on to special features or denizens. Including the Indian Ocean and the Arctic and Southern oceans along with the usual Pacific topics was a nice touch, and allows for more variety than seems usual for these sorts of introductory ocean fact books. (The book also goes for the less common - Portuguese Man-Of-War, octopuses, Boobies, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, cuttlefish - instead of the usual Great White Shark material.)

So, I found this attractive, informative and engaging. It seemed to offer a good balance between content and a fun style, and seemed especially well designed to be a read together sort of book.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

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Another absolutely gorgeous addition to the Atlas of _____________ Adventures series. We’ve used others in the series in our homeschooling, and when I saw this one pop up after we had just finished a unit on the ocean, I knew I had to read it! The art is beautiful, there were interesting facts on every page but it wasn’t too text heavy - I was able to share a page with my early elementary kids without them loosing interest, I liked the map portion so that we could help science meet geography and get a good idea of which animals live near each other, and I liked that it was grouped by region. I’ll definitely keep an eye out to add this one to our home library.

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A fabulous addition to any non-fiction collection on ocean life. It covers a wide range of creatures, with a focus on the familiar rather than the weird and wacky (Octonauts have that covered anyway). Lovely.

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Da un oceano all'altro, alla scoperta delle creature che popolano gli abissi di quelle acque che occupano il 70% del nostro bellissimo pianeta.

Pesci minuscoli e mammiferi enormi, canti misteriosi, animali di cui si è sentito parlare - ma non si ha la certezza che esistano; coralli, alghe, piovre mostruose, avvistamenti che vengono dal mito.

E, ancora, segreti che gli oceani non hanno rivelato.

Un bellissimo volume, introduzione perfetta alle meraviglie della parte liquida del nostro mondo.

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The Atlas Of Ocean Adventures is the fifth of the Atlas of Adventure titles. This book focuses on the wonders of the sea, from Great White Sharks in the waters of South Africa to Walrus from Svalbard. Beautifully illustrated in soft colours, this book will entrance readers.

The Atlas of Ocean Adventures is divided into five sections: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean. This is obviously not a comprehensive atlas, as only 32 animals are featured, but there is a nice range, including fish species, marine birds, and larger mammals. Each featured animal is given a double-page spread. With a full-colour illustration that provides the backdrop for the page, the information about the animal, usually an interesting point about its habitat or lifestyle is provided in a small paragraph and then added points are spread across the page. Also included are maps that show the locations of the animals.

Hidden in the illustrations are some fun oddities - octopus playing the violin, hammerhead with a bouquet of flowers, penguin with a bucket and spade, and these are listed at the back for readers to search for throughout the book. The writing is humorous and shares the information more as an interesting story than straight facts.

Atlas of Ocean Adventures is sure to delight young aspiring marine scientists and encourage them to learn more about the creatures of the sea.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

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What a stunning book! The illustrations are of such a high standard that I would love to use them for a display in my library.

There are plenty of interesting facts for children to immerse themselves in.

Some have suggested an age of 7-9 or thereabouts but I'll be buying this for my school library as I think it would also interest the youngest in my secondary school.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions and Netgalley for the advanced review copy.

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This is one of the most gorgeous, eye-catching children's books I've ever seen. My son is two and is OBSESSED with animals. He loves seeing pictures of them, watching them on tv, and especially seeing them in real life (we go to the science center EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND). This book is absolutely fantastic for introducing him to a wider range of animals and we will definitely be adding it to our collection.

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Imagine a whale with heart as big as car and whose tongue is as heavy as an elpehant. Didnt that picture come real to your mind? Next time you see cars on the road, you can imagine the three double-decker buses height whale. Very powerful imagery.



The illustrator has done bold paintings with many animals of a kind on the page and text swimming along. The move paid off.

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This book would be perfect for key stage 1 and possibly 2 children to look at and read. It’s beautifully illustrated and has lots of interesting facts.
I’ll definitely be ordering copies for the library/classroom.

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Wow! My 7 year old daughter LOVES this book! She's really into nature and science, and the combination of great illustrations and TONS of ocean information was perfect for her! What a great atlas for 7-9 year olds! I highly recommend this book!

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This was an absolutely beautiful book about some of the fascinating creatures in our oceans. I would have loved this when I was a kid. There was just enough information so that it wasn’t too long and boring and the illustrations were lovely. I would definitely buy this for my kids when they are old enough to understand it.

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Amazing book the information is very clear and easy to understand and the pictures are wonderful so full of life the creatures look like they are coming out of the pages, This would be a wonderful addition to any school or library as I know a lot of children who would love this book 5*****

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This book is incredible. The way the dual pages are illustrated and the way the information is in small paragraphs that actually look like they’re flowing with currents takes a learning book and makes it so beautiful and easy to enjoy.

There are so many different creatures in the oceans and this was an e notable way to learn more about some of them!

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If you have a young person in your life who likes animals (like me), this is a great addition to any library. My 2 year old will enjoy this (because there are plenty of pictures of the animals and their habitat), but the best age group would be maybe for a 6-10 year old as the text is more geared towards them.

There are so many things to like, but something I really enjoy is that not only does each page foldout to show the particular animal of focus, but it shows their habitat, where they live on a map (to provide context of where they are in the world) and little facts sprinkled throughout the page. Another huge highlight is the scavenger hunt provided in the back. There are random items on each page and at the end there is a compilation of all these items for the kids to find.

Overall, this is another great book from QPG. I have never been disappointed and will continue to review their books forever.

Thank you to Netgalley, Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions and Emily Hawkins for the opportunity to read this and provide an honest review.

Review Date: 9/19/19
Publication Date: 11/5/19

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