I learned so much about otters! This is a super informative book with delightful otter photos. It's a tiny bit dry, but not too bad and would be great for a school project. ( )

This book is great to use in a science class. Reading it can help students who are learning about the scientific method and how it works. ( )

This book tells about a sea grass problem happening in California. Scientists thought the grass would be dead because it should have been covered in algae, but it was not. Scientist, Brent Hughes, came to a conclusion that Sea Otters were the predators that kept the grass clean. Sea Otters eat the crabs, so there was more sea hare to eat the algae that would kill the sea grass. This is a great science book for students learning about predators, ecosystem, or a food chain. ( )

Sea Otter Heroes has an interesting story to tell. Brent Hughes uses the scientific method to solve a coastal mystery. Why was the sea grass in California’s Elkhorn Slough (pronounced Slew) flourishing when it should have been dead or covered with slimy algae. The farms in the area used pesticides which ran off into the slough and promoted algae growth. He tried again and again to determine why. He began from the bottom up as scientists usually do, but eventually, he used data from a tour boat captain and began to look top down, specifically, the Sea Otters. After many tests and experiments, Brent came to the following conclusion. It turns out that otters eat crabs that eat sea hares that eat algae growing on the grass. Because algae blocks sea grass photosynthesis, the expectation that the sea grass would die does not happen. When more otters eat more crabs, more sea hares survive to eat more algae, resulting in healthier sea grass—a process called trophic cascade. This same process was evident in Yellowstone when the wolves were brought back and the ecosystem became healthier.

The book is not for young children as there is a lot of text and detail, but certainly middlegrade students studying ecosystems would get a lot out of this book. The photographs add so much to the book and make it easier to understand. A good book to have in school and public libraries. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. ( )

This is a great informational text about a scientists research on sea otters. This book would be great to use when teaching the scientific method or how different organisms interact with their environment. This book is a great way to incorporate literacy in different content areas. ( )