DK 24 Hours: Coral Reef By: Caroline Bingham Series: DK 24 Hours Star Rating:

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Synopsis

DK 24 Hours: Coral Reef takes a look at many of the intriguing creatures that live in and around coral reefs, as well as the coral itself, and follows their activities over a period of 24 hours. At periodic intervals the book checks in on five specific reef creatures: the green turtle, the titan triggerfish, the moray eel, the whitetip reef shark, and bubble coral to see what they are doing throughout the day. Iconography throughout the book gives an approximation of the size of each creature compared with a child. There are beautiful full-color photos on every page. Short, concise text passages make this book accessible to younger readers, but the scientific information will still be interesting to older readers. I recommend this book for ages 7-10, but children as young as 4 will probably be drawn in by the colorful pictures.

Review

There are few sea creatures who can match the colorful beauty of coral. DK 24 Hours: Coral Reef really captures that beauty while educating on the diversity of life found on coral reefs. I love reading children's books (or any book for that matter) that teaches me something I didn't already know. If I am learning new things as an adult, then I can be assured that my children are learning new things too. One of the fascinating facts I learned from this book is that coral reefs have cleaning stations where shrimp and small fish clean away parasites and other organisms both inside (mouth and gills) and outside from turtles and larger fish without being eaten. Until reading this book, I didn't know that the whale wash in the movie, Shark Tale, had a basis in reality. I was also introduced to many new species that I hadn't seen before such as Harlequin ghost pipefish, mandarin fish, flashlight fish, and Christmas tree worms to name just a few. Overall, I thought this was a wonderful book that will appeal to both parents and children alike.

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