Puffin Little Explorer: The Ocean

Penguin Random House Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781760897666.
(Age: 6-10) Little Explorer: The Ocean is one of the newly released titles in the Puffin Little series celebrating 80 years of Puffin. So far, this series has contained titles about Composting, the Solar system, Snacks (cooking), Robotics and The Anzacs all aimed at readers from the age of about 6 years of age according to the publishers.
The content of this unpretentious nonfiction book is accurate and well-written in a way that makes it easy to read from front to back. The books have a contents page, glossary, a fast facts section and a short quiz at the end of the book but no Index. The illustrations are black or blue line drawings and pictures which complement the old-fashioned look of this series. This could also be the reason they are so well priced for a nonfiction book at just $12.99 per title.
The book includes information about the difference between oceans and seas, what lives in coastal waters, open ocean, deep ocean and the polar waters. I loved the chapter towards the end of the book which sets out the careers that children can aim for if they wish to work in and around oceans. The section about caring for our oceans is also a welcome inclusion.
It is detailed and comprehensive with quite difficult language and a large amount of text for a book that is aimed at readers as young as 6. At first glance inside this book I assumed this title to be more suitable for children aged over 8 but the Puffin who narrates through the book keeps reminding the reader that they are a Little explorer and Penguin advertises the series is for early readers. I think children as old as 10 would find the information in this book helpful for research and reluctant readers may find this format more approachable than a traditional nonfiction book. Themes: Oceans, Biodiversity, Sea Creatures, Seas.
Gabrielle Anderson