by Brooke Mcintyre and Gordy Wright (Illustrator)

Dive into this compelling, content‑rich nonfiction picture book and find yourself on an underwater adventure: a marine mission that takes you past reefs, beyond the near‑shore sea floor, down, down, down through the sunlight layer, the twilight layer, the midnight zone―all the way (as in seven miles!) down to the bottom of the ocean!

by Carole Boston Weatherford and Bagram Ibatoulline (Illustrator)

Inside glass tanks in crowded aquariums, jellies hold visitors rapt with their slow-motion water ballet. Most of the world’s nearly four thousand species emit an otherworldly light, glowing red, yellow, violet, or blue in the underwater dark. Fourteen wildly divergent poems—by turns dramatic and serene—pulse with life. From spreads of shimmering bioluminescence to graphic panels, stylish artwork blends poetry with science and fact with folklore and myth to form the ideal introduction to the “immortal” and mysterious jellyfish.

by Charlotte Offsay and Abi Cushman (Illustrator)

Deep beneath the waves, a pufferfish putters alone. A playful puffer in a quiet, nothing-much-happening ocean. Until…one small pop! sets off a chain of outrageous events, causing the whole ocean to have a very frazzled day indeed! Can the sea creatures find a way to bring quiet back to their underwater home?

by Jilanne Hoffmann and Khoa Le (Illustrator)

Plunge far below the ocean’s surface where billions of restless animals called zooplankton (including jellyfish) dwell in the Twilight Zone. Some are tiny, some enormous, and most are exquisitely beautiful. The setting sun cues their journey to surface waters for a midnight feast on trillions of tiny plants (and each other). It’s a daunting, perilous journey through predator-infested waters that transforms the dark ocean into a carnival of lights amidst a feeding frenzy in an eat before being eaten world. This nightly animal migration, the largest in the world, is vital to all life on Earth.

by Derick Wilder and Monika Filipina (Illustrator)

It’s a beautiful day to be living in the ocean. The sun is shining, and the water is a glorious blue. But wait . . . something big, something hungry, something menacing is approaching. It’s a great white shark! Luckily, there’s no reason for alarm. From ink-releasing cuttlefish to burrowing flounder to camouflaging leafy dragon, all the local sea creatures seem to have a way to hide from our hungry shark. Well, almost all.

by Michelle Schaub and Khoa Le (Illustrator)

Often called “the lungs of the sea,” seagrass meadows are found on every continent except Antarctica. Within this ecosystem is an abundance of marine life, including many species of fish, mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates. And beyond providing shelter and food for these inhabitants and visitors, seagrass plays an important role in the health of our planet. Seagrass lessens the effects of climate change and even helps filter out plastics and pollutants awash in the ocean. But this important ecosystem is under threat from many human activities. It’s time to pay attention to this vital space on Earth.