A Swim Through the Sea
PreSchool-Grade 3-An alphabetical introduction to various forms of ocean life, as seen through the eyes of Seamore the seahorse. The intended audience is unclear, as the tone of Seamore's encounters, narrated in a large type, indicate a preschool audience, while the descriptive paragraph for each entry uses vocabulary too complicated for the typical alphabet-book crowd. For each letter, a creature is spotlighted and framed by a colorful border featuring other organisms whose names begin with the same letter. Especially lively is the one for "D"-active dolphins leap and swim above and within a multi-shaded ocean across two pages, reminiscent of a Grecian frieze. The "phosphorescent flashlight fish" combines a clever usage of the "ph" and "f" sound, and shows the purple fish glowing green and yellow against a dark background of deep ocean. The double-page view of "rippling rays round a reef" has them radiating out from the center of the spread in a dramatic point of view. All of the flowing, fluid pictures are full of action and detail. Some of the same animals are included in Anne Doubilet's Under the Sea from A to Z (Crown, 1991), but without that title's brief, clear entries.Frances E. Millhouser, Reston Regional Library, VACopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.