Book review: 'Captian Aquatica's Awesome Ocean' is a great way to learn about marine biology

I'm constantly trying to give my kids science books to read. The future belongs to the nerds of the world and I'm on a mission to turn my kids into well-read nerds. It helps that National Geographic has oodles of books that help me with my quest.

Today I'm spotlighting one of their newest books, "Captain Aquatica's Awesome Ocean." I have a marine life-loving daughter and I specifically agreed to review this book with her in mind. Little did I know that my other, younger, kids would enjoy it as well.

Image from Amazon

"Captain Aquatica" is a non-fiction book that has A LOT of facts about the ocean, ocean life, and anything else ocean-related in it. This would be a great book to read if you live near the ocean or are planning on visiting the ocean soon.

Information about all kinds of current fish, ancient fish, and ocean plants are covered in this book, complete with full-color photographs. Interspersed throughout are also short bios about real-life scientists, different experiments you can do at home, and scientific word definitions. While reading this book can help anyone learn about ocean life, they'll also learn a lot of basic science as well. That's what I call a win-win!

Image from Amazon

Besides aquatic life, the nine chapters of "Captain Aquatica" also cover the ocean, weather, tidal zones, ecosystems, and ocean conservation. This book really helps merge all these subjects into focus and can help readers understand how one affects the other.

While most of this book is geared toward middle-graders and older readers, there are nine mini chapters of fun graphic novel adventures within each main chapter. My eight-year-old thought reading about Captain Aquatica, an ocean diver, and Finn, her Hammerhead shark sidekick, was the best part of the entire book. I can see why she was so enthralled, the illustrations are fantastically done and the story line was brief enough to keep her attention, but enthralling enough to keep her turning the pages.

Here's an excerpt of the Captain Aquatica and Finn pages she liked so much:

Image from Amazon

This book is a wonderful way to keep your kids learning through the summer or a great addition to your home/homeschool library. There is A LOT of information in this book, so plan on spending hours learning and reading from it. This isn't a quick and done book read. Rather, it's the type of book where you can read several pages and get off on learning tangents. 

Image from Amazon

"Captain Aquatica's Awesome Ocean" is by Jess Cramp, Grace Hill Smith, and Joe Levit.

Book breakdown:
127 pages
Color photographs and illustrations
Best for ages: 8 and older
Educational factor: high
Christian content: None
Parents could be concerned about: nothing