2.5 stars. This book is a little tough to rate. The kids seemed to enjoy it to a degree, but only because I was able to explain a little about the stories Miss Smith read to her class. My niece and nephew are nine and five respectively. They don't know what Moby-Dick is, or what Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or Treasure Island are. When they heard the name Nemo (as in Captain), they both thought of Nemo (as in Finding). The literary references were ju More...

My 6 year old daughter chose this book from the school's book fair. At first, it seemed like just a better illustrated Miss Frizzle...but then we realized that it was not at all like this. Miss Smith's amazing book takes her and her class of students wherever the book does. Under the Ocean focused on sea related stories such as Little Mermaid, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island and Moby Dick. As an adult, I could appreciate the connections, as elementary students my 6 and 9 year olds didn't "get i More...

This is a wonderful tale - we have read all of the Miss Smith books published so far and our girls just love them! We love that the class becomes so engrossed in the stories she reads that the book becomes alive to them. We also like that the author highlights different literary classics in this series. Our oldest was very interested in reading The Owl And The Pussycat, so I put it on hold at our local library. And then I added the others to my to-read list, since I hadn't read many of the books More...

In true Miss Smith fashion, story time is never boring. Miss Smith takes her class on a new adventure as they visit the aquarium. As she reads to the class they go on an adventure under the ocean. She reads from a variety of stories from The Little Mermaid to Moby Dick. Life is always a great adventure when Miss Smith reads. Children love to hear the story and the illustrations are beautiful.

Miss Smith reminds me of Ms Frizzle on the Magic School Bus series. Instead of a school bus taking them places, she reads from her Incredible Storybook, and the stories come alive. They go on adventures of the sea with classics such as The Owl and the Pussycat, Moby Dick, Gulliver Travels and more. Introduces kids to classic sea novels in a fun way. Bright and captivating illustrations!

Miss Smith's storybook is at it again. Miss Smith reads from her story book and collects story characters into their boat. While as each character is introduced and the character's problem resolved, there seem to be less plot or flow to the plot in this story. Still, the illustrations are a bold and colorful as ever and children may just become interested in one of the stories as a result.

older preschoolers--> school age children; narrative skills, print motivation, phonological awareness, vocabulary building,

This book is about kids who visit the aquarium and the teacher's fantastical adventure with aquatic animals.

This book is very wordy, which is why I suggest it to be for older preschoolers with longer attention spans

Miss Smith loves reading to her students. When she does, the stories seem to come alive for them. In this nautical adventure, the students run into the Owl and the Pussycat, pirates, the Little Mermaid, Captain Nemo and more. The vibrant colors in the illustration add to this book.

Not a bad little book that introduces a lot of storybook characters at once, but I'm always confused about who these books are meant for. It's like when Wishbone did a version of "The Count of Monte Cristo." A kid isn't going to go from a picture book to Moby Dick anytime soon.

This book could be read on the first day of school in order to get students excited about reading in your classroom. Reading can take you to a place you never expected to go, and students need to know that books are there for them to provide this to them.

An amzing book about Miss Smith. She is a teacher that, when she reads, her stories come to like. Throughout this book, all of the adventures the class goes on relates to other books. This would probably be a read for atleast a fourth grader.

I like his other stuff better. Too much of this would require explanation. I mean ... I guess I liked the white whale addition to the story but really? Do we need to be explaining Moby Dick to the picture book crowd?

This series is fun. I think you could have some great conversations with kids about how authors allude to other texts in their work, and about how knowing books helps readers understand other books.

Colorful and fun, but begs comparison to the Magic Schoolbus series, and itnjustbisn't as educational. This book is not about the ocean, it is about literary characters in ocean related stories.

A cute shot of various ocean based stories which come to live through the words of a teacher. She better remember to finish the stories or the characters don't go back in the book .

I really loved the other books with Miss Smith but this one fell completely flat for me--same concept as the others except using sea/ocean/water-related literary characters.

Mediocre toss-off of Magic School Bus. I love the idea of introducing children to literary classics, but the stories could be intertwined so much more gracefully...

Miss Smith reads to her class at the aquarium. Her stories come alive. A.R.

Great story to have for library collection

love it so much

O

I love the librarian that makes reading magical for her listeners. The adventure brings the classic sea story characters to a young readers comprehension level. Great conversations adults can have telling more background info about some of the names mentioned in this book. Names like Captain Ahab, Robinson Crusoe, and Gulliver.

Another great book in the Miss Smith series. Great allusions to classics related to the sea