A B Sea

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-The strength of this book is its full-color photographs. Most of the alphabetically arranged examples of marine life are interesting to look at, but entries range from broad topics such as "zones of life" and "mammal" to specific species like "flamingo tongue," "Venus sea fan," and "xestospongia muta." Since the audience for this book is younger children, it is unlikely that they will understand how all these things are interrelated. Another problem is that terms such as carnivore, prehensile, pectoral, and parasite are used and included in a pictorial glossary, but are never fully explained. Jerry Pallotta's The Underwater Alphabet Book (Charlesbridge, 1991) is a better choice. Also, Anne Doubilet's Under the Sea from A to Z (Crown, 1991) is useful for older students doing reports and includes many interesting pictures. Kalman's effort gets a sea-minus.-Melissa Gross, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA