Inspiring a Love of Reading & STEM, One Book at a Time

This Month’s Pick

Theme: Ocean 🌊

Each pick includes discussion starters, a printable activity, and related at-home experiments.

Why We Chose It

Otis and Will Discover the Deep was chosen for its thrilling true story of early deep-sea exploration, stunning artwork, and a personal connection to my own background in seafloor mapping that made its journey into the unknown especially meaningful.

Try this at home

• Ocean Zones Art: Students create a layered ocean scene to explore how sunlight, color, and animals change from the surface to the deepest zones.

• Build A Bathysphere: Students design and test a mini “deep-sea diving vessel” to see how engineers help people safely explore the ocean’s extreme depths.

• Coral Growth: Students mix a supersaturated solution that forms crystals on pipe-cleaner “corals,” showing how real coral structures grow over time.

• Shark Oil Experiment: Students observe oil floating on water to model how a shark’s oily liver helps it stay buoyant in the ocean.

Bonus Picks!

• The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding The World’s Coral Reefs by Kate Messner

• Swimming With Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenia Clark by Heather Lang

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