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Topic: Oceans & Seas (KS2)

Non-fiction

Fish, sharks, whales, and invertebrates swim through the pages of this colourful ocean book, which combines gorgeous illustrations and photos to help young enthusiasts learn all about the world’s oceans. Children will learn interesting facts, and explanations about how the ocean functions, such as, how underwater plants and species rely on each other, and how ocean animals have fun and look after their young. This beautiful book is the perfect gift for young animal and conservation enthusiasts.

Chapter book

What if you could communicate with a whale?

Rio has been sent to live with a grandmother he barely knows in California, while his mum is in hospital back home. Alone and adrift, the only thing that makes him smile is joining his new friend Marina on her dad’s whale watching trips. That is until an incredible encounter with White Beak, a gentle giant of the sea changes everything. But when White Beak goes missing, Rio must set out on a desperate quest to find his whale and somehow save his mum.

Dive into this incredible story about the connection between a boy and a whale and the bond that sets them both free.

Non-fiction

If you could talk to animals, what would you ask? Get familiar with 10 extraordinary ocean giants as they step up to the mic and share their habits, behaviour, likes and dislikes, favourite foods, and more. Each animal has its own story to tell… and its own attitude!

In this fun and fact-filled book, bite-sized text in a question-and-answer format is paired with colourful and engaging illustrations throughout, perfect for emerging or reluctant readers, or any young animal enthusiast who enjoys a bit of humour!

Features ‘interviews’ with a great white shark, blue whale, orca, sunfish, giant squid, narwhal, manta ray, octopus, conger eel, and angler fish. Plus, ideas for how to do your bit to help endangered species.

Non-fiction

Set your spirit of adventure free with this journey to the world’s great oceans, discovering the diversity of life that exists in the deep blue sea.

Whether you’re travelling long haul with leatherback turtles across the Pacific, snoozing with sea otters or ice bathing with a walrus, this book celebrates the very prescient topic of the world’s oceans with Lucy Letherland ‘s animal characters.

Each section begins with an infographic map of the ocean it explores – Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern and Arctic – followed by richly detailed two-page spreads exploring its depths and the denizens within , as well as seabirds , coral reefs and shoreline critters . Discover saltwater crocodiles lurking in the Andaman Islands, hammerheads gathering in the Atlantic, and the awe-inspiring colossal squid that calls the Ross Sea home.

Lucy Letherland’s illuminating artwork shows how these oceans teem with life, forming part of complex and fascinating ecosystems, all in a quirky, characterful style.

Graphic Novel

With the humorous and heartfelt tones of Finding Nemo, The Aquanaut follows a group of determined characters on their entangled journey to save their family.

First there’s a band of sea creatures struggling to find their way to a fabled paradise and safe haven for marine life. Then there’s a girl who lost her father at sea and is at risk of losing her uncle to his obsession with the legacy of a theme park. The unlikely group find their way to each other at AQUALAND, and stumble across what they are looking for in unexpected ways.

Non-fiction

This is our Blue Planet: a beautiful blue marble suspended in a sea of stars. Dive into these incredible stories from BBC Blue Planet II.

Unlike billions of other worlds in the Milky Way, 71 per cent of our Blue Planet is covered by ocean. It’s home to the greatest diversity of life on Earth but is our least explored habitat; we’ve better maps of Mars than of the ocean floor.

With so much more to discover, take a deep breath . . . and dive into a wondrous world beneath the waves .

Explore coral reefs that shimmer in a kaleidoscope of colours. Venture to the bottom of the ocean where creatures beyond your wildest imagination live in the dark. Chase sea otters through kelp forest seas, and glide the open ocean with humpback whales.

Picturebook

A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam-anything floating that has been washed ashore. Bottles, lost toys, small objects of every description are among his usual finds. But there’s no way he could have prepared for one particular discovery: a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera, with its own secrets to share . . . and to keep.

Chapter book

Finn has always been different, and in the tiny fishing village of Stromhead he sticks out like a sore thumb. Always told to keep away from the water, he’s felt that something was missing until one day he dives in and finds that, swimming with the dolphins, he feels completely at home.

But his new friends are in danger of being injured by the rubbish that floats out into the water – and now a supermarket is going to release thousands of balloons that could drift out to sea and cause even more damage. Desperate to help the dolphins, Finn goes to the Lighthouse Crew, a group of kids who have always left Finn out. Will they be able to set aside their differences to save the dolphins? And what will Finn discover about his past along the way?

A moving adventure about the impact of plastic pollution on our seas, and the campaigning power of friendship from the award-winning Elizabeth Laird, illustrated by Peter Bailey.

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