KIDS

By Michelle and Molly at the Library Center

Have you been looking for stories about Oceans for your children? We have a list for you! Read a book from this list and you can count it as an activity for your child’s Oceans of Possibilities Summer Reading game board.

Books for ages 6-12:

Jules vs. the Ocean by Jessie Sima. Jules is going to build the biggest, the fanciest, and the most excellent sandcastle. Her sister will be so impressed. But the ocean has other plans. Jules keeps building bigger, fancier, and more excellent castles, and waves keep smashing them. And when the ocean takes her bucket, that is the final straw. Jules is going to take a stand! From beloved storyteller Jessie Sima comes the tongue-in-cheek story of the sand, the sea, and sisterhood told with her signature warmth, timeless humor, and delightfully playful illustrations.

Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle's Incredible Journey Home by Lindsay Moore. Yoshi, a loggerhead sea turtle, was injured and rescued by a fisherman who took her to the Two Oceans Aquarium in South Africa for rehabilitation. After twenty years, Yoshi was returned to the sea and traveled nearly 23,000 miles over three years back to what is believed to be her birthplace.

Marine Biologists on a Dive by Sue Fliess, illustrated by Mia Powell. Maggie and her team of marine biologists dive into the ocean with a pod of humpback whales to record their songs and learn about how whales communicate.

Humpback Whale: A First Field Guide to the Singing Giant of the Ocean by Dr. Asha de Vos, illustrated by Jialei Sun. You may know that humpback whales use whale song to communicate with each other, but there's so much more to discover about these giants of the sea! Filled with simple science and plenty of animal facts, this book also explains how hunting made humpback whales an endangered species--and how conservation efforts have seen their numbers increase again.

Consider the Octopus by Nora Raleigh Baskin and Gae Polisner. Jeremy "JB" Barnes is looking forward to spending the summer before seventh grade hanging on the beach. But his mother, a scientist, has called for him to join her aboard a research ship where, instead, he'll spend his summer seasick and bored as he stares out at the endless plastic, microbeads, and other floating debris that make up the Great Pacific Garbage Pile. Miles and miles away, twelve-year-old Sidney Miller is trying to come up with an alternate activity worthy of convincing her overprotective parents that she can skip summer camp. When Jeremy is asked to find the contact information for a list of important international scientists and invite them to attend a last-minute Emergency Global Summit, he's excited to have a chance to actually do something. But how could he have known that the Sidney Miller he emailed was not the famous marine biologist he had been tasked with contacting, but rather a girl posting blogs from her bedroom--let alone that she would come aboard the ship? This is a comedy of errors, mistaken identity, and synchronicity. Above all, it is a heartfelt story about friendship and the power of kids to step up and save our oceans and our Earth, perfect for fans of Lynne Kelly's Song for a Whale.

The Line Tender by Kate Allen. Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart's marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then Lucy and her father have kept their heads above water--thanks in large part to a few close friends and neighbors. But June of her twelfth summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to sleepy Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a great white--and then another tragedy, cutting short a friendship everyone insists was "meaningful" but no one can tell Lucy what it all meant. To survive the fresh wave of grief, Lucy must grab the line that connects her depressed father, a stubborn fisherman, and a curious old widower to her mother's unfinished research on the Great White's return to Cape Cod. If Lucy can find a way to help this unlikely quartet follow the sharks her mother loved, she'll finally be able to look beyond what she's lost and toward what's left to be discovered.

Questions or need more ideas? Email imagine@thelibrary.org