Dive In!: Exploring Our Connection with the Ocean (Orca Footprints)

A passionate environmentalist explains why oceans are amazing and what young readers can do to keep them that way.

In her first book for young readers, novelist and biologist Eriksson connects her audience to the oceans around the world, describes current threats, suggests general ways to help, and offers specific examples of ways to “be an ocean hero.” The book’s four short chapters feature frequent subheadings, sidebars—her personal connections (labeled “My Marine Life”); paragraphs of “Ocean Facts”; and invitations for personal involvement (labeled “Make a Splash!”)—and small photographs. The author and publisher have made an effort to include images of people from around the world, including First Nations neighbors harvesting clams in front of the writer’s waterfront home on Thetis Island in British Columbia. (The author herself is white.) Opening with quotations from Dr. Sylvia Earle and ecologist Barry Commoner, she makes clear the importance of water in human lives. Her examples of ocean overload are sobering, but she concludes her list of challenges with the reminder that “Change = Opportunity” and devotes more than half her pages to appropriate actions, many within reach of kids, toward ocean rescue. For readers old enough to cope with the bad news, the range of suggestions will be welcome. Her organization makes sense, and the exposition is clear and often directly addressed to the reader.