The Aquarium Book

Ancona, G. (1991). The aquarium book. New York: Clarion Books. 

 

This photo essay book was really interesting to read and look through. While it was made quite a few years ago, about 20 years, the pictures of the animals and the ocean habitats will lure children into reading it. Giving you a closer look at aquariums around the United States and the animals living inside them, students will eat up this photo essay book looking through it time and time again. 

The photo essay begins with the sentence, “Below the surface of the seas is a marvelous living world, a world most of us never see…” And that pulls you in after one page. Here on the pages you are brought spectacular views of the architecture of various aquariums like The National Aquarium in Boston and the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, as well as unique and intriguing sea creatures that live there. While looking through all of the breath-taking photos, Ancona describes through the text how each of the four aquariums displayed in this photo essay recreate various aquatic environments that allow for all of their species to survive and flourish in captivity. Also, as you read, you are given a glimpse into the working of these aquatic environments. For example, on page 20-21,there is a beautiful picture of clown fish swimming in a giant anemone and then on the page is describes the symbiotic relationship that these two species have. While you are looking at all the phenomenal photographs, you are also learning crucial information about water environments around the world. After various animals and habitats are explored, the book then shifts to aquariums role in animal survival. You are exposed to how the habitats in which they live in captivity are as close to the real world as they can be, with temperatures and light and dark cycles closely monitored. If animals feel safe in captivity, they will breed and reproduce, which allows aquariums to help repopulate endangered species. I love how he closed the book, by saying that water covers so much of our planet and “the living wonders to be found there invite us to come exploring again and again.” (p. 45)

This book is a photo essay book where all of the information given throughout the book is shown in the photographs as well in the written text. This definitely is a photo essay for upper grade levels. While the pictures are the most dominant things on the page, the text that is featured is definitely a higher level. I looked up the lexile level and it was 1070, so definitely for the older readers, but it could be a great read aloud trade book for younger readers. It is a description photo essay, taking the topic of aquariums, showing examples of popular ones, exhibiting and displaying the animals that live in them, and how these aquariums help protect and enrich aquatic environments around the world. The theme of the books describes to students how important aquariums are and how they are used a research stations to learn how about marine animals grow, interact with each other and their environment, and how we can use these discoveries to protect aquatic communities and make even more discoveries. 

The pictures that are displayed of all of the aquatic animals feature captions of what the animals name is in both English and Latin. This exposes students to a different language, and I can just almost hear the wonder in their voice as they would read the book and go what is that? One thing I really liked was Ancona chose to do some of the pages where the animals were displayed on a black background, with white captions, and extremely colorful pictures. They made the animals almost pop off the page. Also, it gave you sort-of that aquarium feel: it’s usually dark, light by small lights, and the animals seem to pop right in their tanks. While flipping through, the photo essay evoked the feeling of being in a real aquarium.  

 

When trying to use the Mark the Bold strategy, it was impossible because there are NO bold words in this text. If I were going to bold words in this book, however, I would have bolded the following:

p. 2 marine; p. 8 specimens; p.13 habitats; p. 13 captivity; p. 17 tidal marsh; p. 20 symbiotic; p. 23 tide pool; p. 42 docents; 

These words would need some explanation and some detail, maybe having students look them up in a reference book, look at a specific picture and define them

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BIG QUESTIONS: Why are aquariums so important? What might happen if we didn’t know the marine information learned in aquariums? Why is it crucial that we protect marine environments? What marine environment would you like most to visit and why? Which aquatic environment do you think is most important and why? How do you think the animals in captivity feel?