There's a Book for That: National Oceans Month
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Welcome National Oceans Month! In 2016, President Barack Obama proclaimed June as National Oceans Month, stating, “This month, let us continue the work of ensuring the well-being of these grand bodies of water and the communities that depend on them. As we celebrate the immense beauty and power of our oceans, we are reminded of our shared responsibility to protect them — now and for generations to come.”
To help us all be great stewards of the sea, we invite you to wade into the following oceanic titles for all ages;
A powerful ode to marine life and the natural world, these illuminating essays reveal the elusive lives of whales in the Pacific Ocean—home to orcas, humpbacks, sperm, blue, and gray whales. Leigh Calvez has spent a dozen years researching, observing, and probing the lives of the giants of the deep. Here, she relates the stories of nature’s most remarkable creatures. To experience whales is breathtaking. To understand their lives deepens our connection with the natural world.
The power and wonder of the ocean is as strong today as ever, with new expeditions to its depths, and new discoveries beneath melting ice, in developing reefs, and on shores around the world. From the geological and physical processes that affect the ocean floor to the key habitat zones, flora, and fauna, this is the definitive reference to the world’s oceans.
Economist Book of the Year—Audubon Book of the Year—American Library Association Award winner – Royal Society Winton prize Finalist – Winner of the Rachel Carson award
The sea feeds and sustains us, but everywhere we look marine life is under threat, from Caribbean reefs to arctic fisheries to the deepest regions of the sea. In this passionate paean to the sea and its creatures, one of the world’s foremost marine conservation biologists tells the story of man and the sea, from the earliest traces of life on earth to the oceans as we know them today.
An epic adventure story of Man versus Ocean, Susan Casey’s bestselling thrill ride reveals the truth behind giant waves and the people who hunt them.
Celebrating the mystery and beauty of birds and sea creatures in their natural habitat, Under the Sea-Wind—Rachel Carson’s first book and her personal favorite—is the early masterwork of one of America’s greatest nature writers. Evoking the special mystery and beauty of the shore and the open sea—its limitless vistas and twilight depths—Carson’s astonishingly intimate, unforgettable portrait captures the delicate negotiations of an ingeniously calibrated ecology.
This marvelous collection includes classics old and new, from Homer and Milton to Plath and Merwin. Here are Tennyson’s seductive sea-fairies next to Poe’s beloved Annabel Lee. Here is Coleridge’s darkly brooding “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” alongside the grandeur of Shakespeare’s “Full Fathom Five.” And here is Masefield’s “I must go down to the seas again” alongside Cavafy’s “Ithaka” and Stevens’s “The Idea of Order at Key West.” In the wide variety of lyrics collected here–sonnets and sea chanteys, ballads and hymns and prayers–we feel the encompassing power of our planet’s restless waters as metaphor, mystery, and muse.
FOR YOUNGER READERS
A breathtaking picture book featuring a Korean girl and her haenyeo (free diving) grandmother about intergenerational bonds, finding courage in the face of fear, and connecting with our natural world.
From a young age, Marie Tharp loved watching the world. She loved solving problems. And she loved pushing the limits of what girls and women were expected to do and be. In the mid-twentieth century, women were not welcome in the sciences, but Marie was tenacious. She got a job in a laboratory at Cambridge University, New York. But then she faced another barrior: women were not allowed on the research ships (they were considered bad luck on boats). So instead, Marie stayed back and dove deep into the data her colleagues recorded. She mapped point after point and slowly revealed a deep rift valley in the ocean floor. At first the scientific community refused to believe her, but her evidence was irrefutable. She proved to the world that her research was correct. The mid-ocean ridge that Marie discovered is the single largest geographic feature on the planet, and she mapped it all from her small, cramped office.
The fabled painter Winslow Homer always had a deep respect for the elemental power and beauty of the ever-changing ocean. Whenever he set up his easel, he was drawn back to its frothing waves smashing against rocks, gleaming like mirrors in the sunlight. He knew it took patience to get his painting just right to capture the life of the ocean. Breaking Waves: Winslow Homer Paints the Sea describes the artist’s process from season to season, readers are shown the many blues, greys, browns, and golds that Winslow Homer used to depict the changing sea. Additional content in the back of the book further explains his work and passion for the ocean.
Beneath the ocean waves lies a web of life that ties together creatures great and small. Fan favorites like hermit crabs and great white sharks share space with mysterious bottom-dwellers like mimic octopuses and giant sea spiders in this gorgeous exploration of the sea. Dive in and encounter some of the earth’s most remarkable animals in this gloriously illustrated compendium. A perfect gift for all nature lovers.
For more on these and related titles visit Ocean
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