Who Lives in the Sea?

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Here at Teach Mentor Texts we are always looking for more ways to support teachers! We've found that teachers seem to be constantly on the lookout for great nonfiction. We know we are! To help with this undying quest for outstanding non-fiction, we are excited to participate in Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and The Nonfiction Detectives. Every Wednesday, you'll find a non-fiction review here - although it may not always be a picture book review. Please visit Kid Lit Frenzy to see what non-fiction others have to share, too. 

Title: Who Lives in the Sea?: Ocean Animals of Hawaii 
Author: Monika Mira 
Illustrator: Monika Mira
Publisher: Lucid Publishing  
Publication Date: November, 2012 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Award-winning author, Monika Mira brings you a repetitive rhyming story about ocean animals that encourages early reading skills and answers the burning questions that the inquisitive minds of young children tend to ask about the world around us. Who Lives in the Sea? Ocean Animals of Hawaii includes children's favorite animals like whales, dolphins, sharks and starfish and introduces some more unusual animals like the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal and the Banded Coral Shrimp.  
What I Think: First of all, I guess you can't technically call this book non-fiction! I just wrote my whole review and then stopped to think about how animals talking in complete sentences doesn't really qualify as non-fiction. The non-fiction part of this book is the all the animals that truly do live in the sea of Hawaii. While this book is in fact fiction, it can lead to an awareness of animal life and then more reading of non-fiction books about those animals.
     Maybe one reason why I was sure it was non-fiction as I was reading (besides the fact that I'm running on little sleep...) is that Little Bean is a super curious little kiddo right now so I can totally identify with Baby in this book. He wants to ask any animal he sees about other animals that live in the sea. This would be a wonderful book to introduce different animals in the sea and before visiting an aquarium. I think the rhyming text is fun for young children. 
     Because this book is repetitive, it's a great mentor text to look at both dialogue and quotation marks and adverbs. Students will see how the Baby talks and then the animal responds on every page. It's easy to point out what Baby is saying and what the animals are saying. In order to be able to rhyme throughout the book, Mira uses adverbs to describe how the animals respond. Again, the format is similar on every page so that students will be able to pinpoint the adverbs and then talk about what an adverb's job is. After reading this book, I'm ready to go spend some time talking and visiting with sea life in Hawaii!
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 3 
Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 3 
Read With: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle, I Spy Under the Sea by Edward Gibbs, non-fiction informational about sea animals 
Snatch of Text: 

"Baby asked the turtle,

'Who lives in the sea?'

The turtle replied, 

'Are you talking to me?

A playful gray dolphin 

lives in the sea

in the beautiful islands of Hawaii.'" 

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections,  
Writing Strategies to Practice: Adverbs, Quotation Marks, Expository, Rhyme, Dialogue
Writing Prompts: Research more information about one of the animals in the book and write an expository piece about that animal.  
Topics Covered: Integration - Science - Ocean Life, Marine Animals, Habitats, Animals

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