When we spent a week in Sarasota, Florida, we didn't want to spend all of our time enjoying the warm waters of the Gulf ... and, besides, a tropical storm sent enough downpours our way to make alternate planning a necessity. First on my list of places to visit was the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, and I bought this book in the gift shop (while my children both opted for stuffed manatees).

Although I planned to read it myself, always enjoying a chance to bone up on my knowledge of the ways and means of the ocean, I hoped my children would be intrigued by the colorful illustrations and read it, too. And, later that day, I spied my son deeply engrossed in its pages -- so much so that he spent much of the flight home at the end of the week turning its pages between glances out the window at the clouds below us. I hope my daughter follows suit (although she's on a Greek mythology kick right now, and our time in Sarasota was punctuated by her invocations to Poseidon for nicer weather) but next it was my turn.

Julia Rothman's Ocean Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of the World under the Sea is a nifty introduction to the science of the sea. I quickly realized that Rothman is neither a marine biologist nor an oceanographer; she is a writer and artist and has produced a series of Anatomy books that touch on topics ranging from nature and wildlife to farm and country life. For this book, she employed the aid of musician, poet and author John Niekrasz, who did the research and provided Rothman with the scientific details she needed to write and illustrate.

Ocean Anatomy is by no means a comprehensive text on everything ocean -- it would take volumes to cover all of its life, evolution, climate, geography and other topics that are touched on here. This is, rather, a superficial yet surprisingly thorough introduction to the subject, one that will hopefully inspire a lifelong love affair with the sea.

Along with hundreds of quirky illustrations and hand-scrawled notes, Rothman offers basic details and trivia about the ocean and a vast number of creatures that live in or in close proximity to it, as well as geological and climatic changes that have occurred over millennia or, in some cases, within the past few years. Readers will learn about whales, dolphins, tides, moray eels, groupers, reefs, gills, penguins and polar bears, barnacles, sponges, reefs, currents, the fishing industry, sea turtles, Pangea, echolocation, octopuses, shark teeth, migration, snails, lobsters, wave formation, seals and sea lions, bioluminescence, pollution, shells, sand, deepwater exploration, waterbirds, glaciers, and threats to the continued survival of the ocean and our world. Among other things. I mean, there's a lot of information in this book.

Ocean Anatomy was a good investment. Anyone even remotely interested in the ocean or ocean life will enjoy it. Adults will learn a lot, and kids might be inspired to learn even more. (And I'm glad the copy I purchased helped to support the good work at the Mote Laboratory. If you're in the Sarasota area, check out their resident manatee!)

[ visit Julia Rothman online ]