I think this book hits an awkward spot in terms of recommending it to kids. It doesn't have enough information to satisfy older readers, but the vocabulary and sentence structures would be really challenging for a younger reader. I suppose I'd put it in the 3rd to 5th grade range.

The story is a very basic outline of the life of oceanographer Sylvia Earle, covering briefly her childhood on a farm, her family's move to Florida near the ocean, her love of exploring ocean life, and some of her professional feats (mostly how deep she dove and how long she stayed underwater).

There's a lot more information in the Author's Note that follows the text. I wish more of it had been integrated into the story. There's a sad message in it, too, about how poorly humans treat the oceans: "...we have dumped lethal nuclear waste, industrial waste, pollutants from underwater mining, and just plain garbage... Are we thinking the sea is vast and deep enough to take all this and more?"

The real treat of this short biography is the art. Each page charmingly conveys the vastness of the oceans and the variety of life found there, as well as Earle's immersion (literally!) in her studies. ( )

Biography of oceanographer and advocate Syvlia Earle.

Sylvia Earle was born in 1935 and grew up on a farm in New Jersey. She became an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and was named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998. In fact, it is remarkable that Sylvia Earle is not better known, because her accomplishments and honors comprise a very long list. Thus this book, with beautiful accompanying watercolors by the author, is a welcome addition to any collection for children.

As a child, the author tells us, Sylvia sat outside and watched what happened in the wild, keeping a notebook describing what she saw. She also lined the windowsills of her house with her collection jars.

When she was twelve, her family moved to Florida, right by the Gulf of Mexico. “It was then, her mother said, that Sylvia ‘lost her heart to the water.’” She even began scuba diving to do her research. Soon she was leading a team of divers working in a deep-sea laboratory. She herself descended 3,000 feet in the Pacific Ocean in a one-person bubble she helped to design. In 1970, she spent two weeks fifty feet below at a deep-sea station, swimming for as many as twelve hours a day among the fish and coral reefs and observing. Nine years later she walked among the coral reefs on the ocean floor off Hawaii, 1,250 feet down: deeper than anyone had ever walked.

The book spotlights Sylvia’s observation of humpback whales, with their “grapefruit-size eyes” who seemed to be observing Sylvia as keenly as she was observing them:

"They are sleek and elegant and gorgeous, among the most exquisite creatures on the planet. They move like ballerinas . . . Rollicking, frolicking creatures, doing all this wonderful dancing in the sea.”

She even heard them singing: “Sylvia says that hearing their haunting and beautiful songs in the sea is like being inside the heart of an orchestra.”

[Scientists have recently discovered that humpback whales pass their songs across oceans, suggesting a remarkably fast cultural evolution. Sylvia no doubt laid the groundwork for these studies.]

The author concludes:

“We have explored only 5 percent of the ocean. We know more about the planets in outer space than we know about the sea on our very own home planet! Sylvia Earle believes that if we do not learn about the ocean world we will never really care about it or take care of it."

Back matter includes an Author’s Note (surrounded by beautiful pictures of fish from the ocean depths) focusing in detail on ocean-altering damage from the dumping of lethal nuclear waste, industrial waste, pollutants from underwater mining, and garbage, inter alia. Are we thinking, she asks, that the sea is vast and deep enough to take all this and more? She explains that on the contrary, the ocean is simply not big enough.

There is also a selected bibliography.

The author, also the illustrator, used watercolors and gouache to depict the colorful beauty and vastness of Sylvia’s ocean world, with Sylvia appearing as a small figure among many sea creatures.

Evaluation: Lovely pictures will draw readers into this story of the magical world of the ocean, as well as to the inspirational and ground-breaking work of Sylvia Earle. ( )

I really liked this book because of its story and message. The story talks about a woman who grew up on a farm, but then became an oceanographer. The message of this story is no matter who you are or where you come from, if you believe in yourself you can achieve your dreams. The language in this book is simple and concise, the only difficult words having to do with the ocean and science. The writing is very engaging and flows at a nice pace. For example, we start out at the farm and slowly transition into her moving near the ocean, discovering her love for the ocean, going to school, etc. The character is believable because it is about a real woman, Sylvia Earle. The story is told from a third person point of view. The plot was organized, and simply told her life story from beginning to now. There was not any tension or conflict. The plot goes into detail about what she does in the ocean and her passion for it. The illustrations make the book ten times better and is a main component in why I liked this book. The illustrations provide great visual aid to the story and fits the mood perfectly. For example, when the author is taking about Sylvia deep sea diving, there are pictures of a deep dark ocean with her swimming along. This book doesn’t push readers to think of tough issues but can be motivational for people to see that they can achieve their dreams if they work hard.

Interesting depiction of Sylvia Earle. Focused a lot on her career and relationship with the ocean. I find it an interesting perspective and awesome that she swam with the big boys and went further, or deeper, than most anyone on the planet. The illustrations remind me of a scientist's artistic renditions/sketches of what they observe in the wild/ocean. ( )