Deep Underwater

PreS-Gr 2—Sophia, whose proximity to the ocean has clearly informed and inspired her, spins a deep-sea fantasy. The child invites readers to follow her into the depths. Her narration is both succinct and full of rich language, so listeners will have interesting words to ponder while poring over wondrous images. For example, after "an abyss becomes a bottomless pit of possibilities," the girl floats in a protective sphere through a cavernous portal, lit with an orange glow. As Sophia observes circles of varying sizes and colors carrying everything from an atom or music to a key and a dinosaur skeleton, the text reads: "Here, hot gassy bubbles burp ancient secrets from deep inside the center of the Earth." Mixed media and collage art, digitally composed, produce intense colors and a riot of textures that depict the teeming underwater flora and fauna. In a clever scene with sunken treasure, Sophia gazes into a mirror and finds a mermaid dopplegänger, "a friend in me, whose strength lifts me up." Back in her bedroom, eyes closed, mirror and mother by her side, she conjures a whale-shaped, Chagall-like dream—fertile territory for young imaginations.