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Emaline and her family move to Colorado, where they can enjoy a wide range of activities throughout the year. Their new home excites them, but they miss visiting the ocean. This thought begins the story, composed of revisiting fond memories of a vacation spent at the beach, where Emaline, her furry dog companion, Stella, and her parents discovered the wonderful sea creatures who lived in the tidal pools. The rest of their trip involved learning as much as possible about the wide variety of inhabitants there, thanks in part to internet research and conversations with Emaline’s knowledgeable Grandpa Glenn. The results of their research on the sea creatures occupy a solid portion of the text, accompanied by helpful illustrations and how Emaline makes friends with or interacts with each one. Additionally, forces such as the undersea current from the Gulf of Mexico and its effect on not only the flow of sea life but the world get explored.
This children’s story is a delight to read with its detailed illustrations on every page, which includes a few coloring pages for kids to add some hues of their own. It is also the perfect way to get them excited about a part of the ocean they might not have heard about or seen before—tidal pools—by introducing the types of ocean life they might find by exploring one. The enthusiasm for understanding the inhabitants of the ocean is palpable, which is sure to entice younger readers to ask more questions and do their own research. Further, in the same way that Stella and her family can recall this vacation memory to the beach so well after moving to Colorado, readers are able to vividly enjoy this trip to the tidal pools from the comfort of their homes.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review