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12th out of 121 books
—
28 voters
Coral Reefs
by
Jason Chin (Goodreads Author)
During an ordinary visit to the library, a girl pulls a not-so-ordinary book from the shelves. As she turns the pages in this book about coral reefs, the city around her slips away and she finds herself surrounded by the coral cities of the sea and the mysterious plants and animals that live, hunt, and hide there.
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
October 25th 2011
by Flash Point
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We recently read Redwoods by Jason Chin and we really liked it. I love the way that the book informs but still tells a secondary story through the illustrations. So when we saw this book about coral reefs, we just knew we had to read it.
The story is long and the information is fairly detailed, so I would recommend this for older children. But, as we saw withRedwoods, the colorful illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. They create an underwater world right inside the Stephen A. Schwarzman branch...more
The story is long and the information is fairly detailed, so I would recommend this for older children. But, as we saw withRedwoods, the colorful illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. They create an underwater world right inside the Stephen A. Schwarzman branch...more
Oct 09, 2012
Erin Mccall
added it
Coral Reefs is a great introduction into the nonfiction, educational, informational genre in that it’s still a picture book at its core, as we can tell right away from the title page. We have an unnamed protagonist who walks us through finding and reading Coral Reefs herself from the confines of a library. But quickly each page of our Coral Reefs begins to grow into a wet, colorful coral reef; winding along the path of our young blonde reader as she walks and reads. Her face is expressive, espe...more
4.5 STARS
An engaging and suitably colorful book about coral reefs (the Belize barrier reef is the model for the reef and creatures seen here, though the information is pertinent to coral reefs as a whole). I loved the format with the girl reading the book about coral reefs from the library (I think the NY Public Library, though I may be mistaken; I think the big lion statues out front are in one of the photos) and gradually finding herself drawn into the book, the coral reef popping up around he...more
An engaging and suitably colorful book about coral reefs (the Belize barrier reef is the model for the reef and creatures seen here, though the information is pertinent to coral reefs as a whole). I loved the format with the girl reading the book about coral reefs from the library (I think the NY Public Library, though I may be mistaken; I think the big lion statues out front are in one of the photos) and gradually finding herself drawn into the book, the coral reef popping up around he...more
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Great illustrations, along with interesting descriptions of coral reefs and the animals that depend upon them. Includes several animals that I'd never heard of (such as the frogfish and the scorpion fish). My kids were both fascinated by and disgusted by the neon gobies that eat parasites and dead skin off of tiger groupies. The gobies even swim inside the groupers' mouths to clean their teeth. A great example of a symbiotic relationship. The book compares coral reefs to cities...great cities un...more
A lovely book. It begins when a girl pulls this very book off the shelves at a library and starts reading. The text is pure non-fiction: straightforward and clear information about coral reefs ecosystems. But the illustrations transform the story: as the girl reads about how coral grows, different types of coral begin to grow up behind her. When she reads that "Coral reefs are home to thousands of plants and animals", water pours in, bringing those creatures with them. The girl floats and swims...more
Using the similar combination of nonfiction and magical realism as he did in Redwoods (Flash Point, 2009), Chin presents a beautiful look at the ecosystem of coral reefs. A girl enters the New York Public Library and pulls out a book from the shelves; careful readers will note that she selects this same book, Coral Reefs. Soon, coral begins to grow around her on the tables and the floor. Water puddles appear on the floor. A crab scurries past. Suddenly, a wave crashes through the window and swee...more
This is a hard book to review -- hard even for me to form an opinion about. I think the number one thing it calls to my attention is that it's very, very hard to both write and illustrate a children's book.
It's not that it can't be done -- the solo works of Dr. Seuss, Lillian Hoban, and Eric Carle, just to name a few, show that a singular vision can produce books of breathtaking imagination and beauty. But far too often, someone who tries to handle both creative parts simply proves that he or sh...more
It's not that it can't be done -- the solo works of Dr. Seuss, Lillian Hoban, and Eric Carle, just to name a few, show that a singular vision can produce books of breathtaking imagination and beauty. But far too often, someone who tries to handle both creative parts simply proves that he or sh...more
First things first. Let's just get something out the way here before I go any further. I am not exactly a disinterested party when it comes to this book. No, I don't know the author personally (though we did meet once). No, I never saw an early manuscript or offered helpful criticisms when the text was still young and unformed. No, I am not a coral reef myself. See, the thing about this book is that it takes place at a very specific location. The bulk of the story happens when a kid enters a lib...more
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Sep 10, 2012
Gundula
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
children interested in coral reefs and the ocean (might be a bit wordy for the very young)
An effective and novel introduction to the nature and ecology of coral reefs, this exquisite picture book, written and illustrated by Jason Chin, is both engaging and informative, presenting not only general and specific information and details about coral reef communities and their environs, but also demonstrating the unfortunate fact, the unfortunate truth that coral reefs are not only vibrant and diverse marine communities, but that many of these communities are increasingly being endangered...more
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This book is gorgeous, that pretty much covers it. The illustrations take the reader on a journey over and around a coral reef. Even without the words, I could easily follow the story. I love the idea of a book taking the reader on a journey to somewhere they may never be able to go in real life. This suits my lifestyle of armchair adventuring. The text does add a great deal of information, a little too much for a read-a-loud I discovered, especially when the students kept interrupting to share...more
Wow, I learned so much reading this book! The story was an interesting mix of factual information, mixed with whimsy, which was accomplished by creating a secondary back story through the illustrations. The story begins by discussing corals, and their importance in the ocean. Then it moves on to explaining the relationship between predator and prey, symbiotic relationships, various animals that live within the coral, and the sections that make up a coral reef. At the same time, the illustrations...more
I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I was going to. However, I think children may enjoy it much more. The point of this story is you really have to use your imagination. It is a good learning tool to learn about the ocean and coral reefs but much of the book focuses on how a young girl went to the library, selected a book on coral reefs, becomes lost in her own reading, and finds herself surrounded by coral reefs and experiencing these things she is reading about. I believe this is a...more
Coral Reefs, Jason Chin
Grade Level: K-5
Topic: Ocean Life
Description: This book tells the story of a girl who visits her local library and checks out a book on the coral reef, wanting to learn about life under the sea. But then suddenly, things begin to change and soon her entire town is submerged in water and she now gets a much closer look at life on the coral reef than she was anticipating. This book does a great job at explaining the ecosystem found at the coral reef, tells about the differen...more
Grade Level: K-5
Topic: Ocean Life
Description: This book tells the story of a girl who visits her local library and checks out a book on the coral reef, wanting to learn about life under the sea. But then suddenly, things begin to change and soon her entire town is submerged in water and she now gets a much closer look at life on the coral reef than she was anticipating. This book does a great job at explaining the ecosystem found at the coral reef, tells about the differen...more
Using the same style as his previous nonfiction book, REDWOODS, Jason Chin presents information about coral reefs. The strength of this book is in the beautiful illustrations - as the young protagonist gets more and more engrossed in a book about coral reefs, the reef appears all around her until she's swimming through the ocean, checking out all the animals. The large blocks of text may turn off browsing readers, though the book does include enough information for reports. While the format was...more
Oct 11, 2012
June
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
a wonderful introduction to coral reefs
Recommended to June by:
Children's Books - Ecosystems
Shelves:
picture-book,
informational
Having dived on coral reefs around the Cayman Islands and being a librarian made this a near perfect book for me. I found it a wonderful combination of a story about the magic of reading, a library book that magically transports a girl underwater to a coral reef, and information - where she witnesses the inhabitants and relationships of these "aquatic cities:" food chains, schooling, adaptations, symbiosis, filter feeding... A page at the end discusses the "Threat to Coral Reefs" and how childre...more
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I am delighted by the use of a girl going to the library and being totally immersed in her book that she is imaging herself actually in the coral reef. Isn't this the point of all reading, to be so immersed in the book that it becones real to you. A great idea to present nonfiction to a beginning audience be it child or adult.
The info regarding coral reffs was well done with added info and references on the endind two pages. Oh, yes, one Goodreads friend refers to this type of title, as a nonfic...more
The info regarding coral reffs was well done with added info and references on the endind two pages. Oh, yes, one Goodreads friend refers to this type of title, as a nonfic...more
Nov 11, 2012
Lisa Vegan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
ages 9 & up; fans of libraries, coral reefs, nature, books
Like Chin’s book Redwoods, this book has a fictional story within the non-fiction book and marvelous illustrations.
When a young girl in the NYC public library pulls a book about coral reefs (this very one) off the shelves and reads it, she falls right into the book, into the coral reef. The page where this first happens elicited a huge smile from me; that illustration is so much fun.
There are many interesting facts about coral reefs but even in the book proper, the information detail and vocabu...more
When a young girl in the NYC public library pulls a book about coral reefs (this very one) off the shelves and reads it, she falls right into the book, into the coral reef. The page where this first happens elicited a huge smile from me; that illustration is so much fun.
There are many interesting facts about coral reefs but even in the book proper, the information detail and vocabu...more
Coral Reefs, is educational and beautiful. The writing is crisp and to the point. It delivers a eco-friendly message that is fact based. The art work is breathtakingly beautiful. Once the story is read, hours can be spent looking at the pictures and discovering new fish that were not seen the first time around. The inside covers are covered with animal drawings and labeled. So, if like me you find a fish you like, you can look on the inside cover to find what it is. I don't know if all the fish...more
Chin appears to want to bank on his considerable success with Redwoods--this second book is along the same lines, where a child opens a book and literally enters a new environment. This time, the child is a girl, in a library. The art is gorgeous, absolutely--but it's a shame that the text is so didactic and dull. It reads like a textbook, with a lot of big terms, but at least is a little less wordy than Redwoods, which was its chief drawback as a children's book.
This is a delightful book and chock full of facts. Many things are covered from the various relationships that occur there, (predator/prey or symbiosis, etc.) the threat to the sea from climate change, problems with plastic bags, an explanation of what happens when the coral gets stressed....they expel the algae that gives the reef its color from the reef which bleaches the reef and leads to further damage and death, to how gigantic a reef can be and much more.
As the written story progresses, the illustrations quite cleverly "morph" the reader from library to ocean bottom. The visual allegory continues throughout the book, where challenges of the reef (finite resources, pollution, predators) are paralleled in city life. One of the better books on the 2014 Bluebonnet reading list, I could see this book being a great introduction to an upper elementary unit on oceans and coral reefs - a real interest-builder.
This is a well-written book about coral reefs and how a little girl becomes so engrossed in the book she actually slips down into the ocean and discovers the reefs herself. The illustrations are bright and colorful. The facts are informative and interesting. At the end of the book is information on how the reefs are threatened and why their existence is important. This book is for all ages of children.
Jason Chin has done it again. He's created another great title to add to your nonfiction bookshelf. This time he's taken us from the redwood forest to under the sea in his latest book, Coral Reefs. Again, Chin offers readers informative text and beautiful, imaginative illustrations. In Coral Reefs, a young girl enters the New York Public Library, pulls a book about coral reefs off the shelf and finds herself in the undersea world she's reading about. The text is straight nonfiction, while the il...more
Because one of my early elementary-aged children is a total ocean fanatic, she was able to hang on through this book with extensive description of coral reefs. Beautifully illustrated, each page was like an adventure on the reef. Author was realistic about their future and she was especially interested in the tips to help save the reefs. Wouldn't try for preschoolers or younger.
Beautiful!! Jason Chin illustrates a young reader's journey to a coral reef. An interesting, fun, and informative tour through coral reefs. The perfect read aloud for third and fourth graders learning about ocean life. Readers will certainly want time to inspect the fabulously detailed illustrations. I thought I knew about coral reefs and I learned something new too!
This is a beautiful book! It starts out with a little girl in a library who picks up a book about coral reefs. As she reads about them the library becomes the coral reef. Then at the end of the book when she's outside the library steps there are still remnants of the coral reef around her. Loved it!! It was similar to the style of Redwoods by the same author.
Such a neat non-fiction book. The illustrations start with a girl in a library looking at a book and as she is reading the book the setting changes to the ocean so she becomes a part of what she is learning about. Great information about coral reefs, predator/prey, partnerships, animal adaptations, and other facts that kids will want to learn about.
This is one of my favorite books I have read thus far. The vivid imagery and imagination of this child would really bring students interested to learn about coral reefs and all the other fun stuff in the ocean. I will definitely use this book, along with other books Jason Chin has written to help keep my students focused and entertained.
I'm afraid this NF Bill Martin, Jr. nominee is pretty high a level for the target audience of K-3, but it is a VERY well done picture book that brings the info down as low and well-explained as possible. I question it's NF label though, since it includes the fantasy of imagining the reader transported INTO a coral reef.
Just as he did with Redwoods, Jason Chin combines nonfiction text about a specific location with beautiful illustrations. I appreciate that his characters always "enter" the location, in this text the coral reef, through the reading of an actual book. He illustrates the idea that reading "can take you places" brilliantly.
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