On the Shelf

Header Right Social

FacebookInstagramYoutubeMeetupOn the Shelf Blog

Header Right Search

Under the Sea

Whale in a Fishbowl

by Leave a Comment

Whale in a Fishbowl by Troy Howell & Richard Jones Illustrator
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Children & To All Who Are Waiting… Unknowingly to be Free!

Wednesday is a Whale who lives in a gigantic fishbowl in the middle of the city. She always watches the people hurrying, pedaling, wheeling and worrying around her. Wednesday can’t see anything but the busy city until she jumps up, then catches a glimpse of blue. Blue made heart soar and she loved leaping up to see it. The people around her thought she was doing tricks. But, Wednesday just wanted one more glimpse. When she wasn’t leaping, she stayed at the bottom. One day a little girl tapped on the glass,”Hey.” They gazed at each other. Her eyes were blue too. “My name is Piper. You don’t belong in there.” As Piper was leaving she called, “You belong in the sea!”
The sea. What is the sea? Thought Wednesday.
Because whales don’t belong in fishbowls do they?
Find it in the catalog.

Be Brave Little Penguin

by Leave a Comment

Submitted by Ms. Shannon!

Be Brave, Little Penguinby Giles Andreae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees. Little Pip-Pip is the smallest penguin in his family and he is very scared to go swimming in the big Antarctic ocean. He sees all of the other penguins having tons of fun playing in the water and it looks like so much fun! Unfortunately, Pip-Pip is too afraid of the cold and the monsters to try. The other penguins call him names like “Scaredy-Pip-Pip” which makes him feel very lonely. When his mommy sees how scared he is, she reminds him that everyone has fears and that he can be brave and enjoy the swimming just like everyone else. Created by the author of Giraffes Can’t Dance, this charming and brightly illustrated story told in rhyme will encourages children to conquer their fears. See this book listed in our catalog

Swallow the Leader

by Leave a Comment

Submitted by Ms. Shannon!

Swallow the Leader: A Counting Book by Danna Smith and illustrated by Kevin Sherry. Take a dip under the sea with a group of fantastic rhyming fish friends! You can swim and play together with the turtles, whales, rays, blowfish, and crabs. We watch our aquatic friends and pretend to be a different underwater creature on every page. Follow the leader is a super fun game to play with lots of friends, everyone can pitch in. Can you splash like a fish? Can you snap like a crab? Can you count to ten? We count and we rhyme and we play and we swim and we might have forgotten to LOOK OUT FOR THAT SHARK! AAAGHHH! See this book listed in our catalog

Also an Octopus

by Leave a Comment

Submitted by Ms. Tess!

Also an Octopus by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Benji Davies starts like every story does: with nothing. It needs a character. Why not an octopus? Who plays the ukulele? And wants to travel to space in a shiny purple spaceship? Why not? But you can’t get a spaceship at the drug store. And the octopus isn’t a rocket scientist. And neither is his friend, the adorable bunny. The octopus is despondent. He’ll never get to travel to other galaxies. Or will he? When the octopus is sad, he plays his ukulele, “because music is good for the heart.” And when he plays, people come to listen, and some of those people are rocket scientists! Yes, it’s true! And you know what happens next? Well, that’s really up to you to decide. Because the ending of one story is the beginning of another, and everyone has what it takes to tell a story, because every story, like we said, starts with nothing! If you’ve got a little storyteller in your life, I’m sure they’ll love this book! See this book listed in our catalog

Not Quite Narwhal

by Leave a Comment

Submitted by Ms. Carol!

Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima is about a creature named Kelp. Kelp was born in the ocean. He lives there with his friends, the narwhals. He really thinks he is a narwhal. He just thinks he is a little different. His tusk isn’t as long, he doesn’t like the same food that they do, and he is not a very good swimmer, but his friends don’t seem to mind. One day he gets swept away in a current. He sees land, and a creature that looks very much like him. As he goes exploring he finds these creatures and soon discovers he is not a narwhal after all. He is a unicorn. His new unicorn friends teach him all about being a unicorn. He was having lots of fun but he began to miss his old friends so he returns to the ocean. He begins to wonder what he should do. Should he stay with his old friends or return to his new friends? Then he realizes maybe he doesn’t have to choose after all… See this book listed in our catalog

Giant Squid

by Leave a Comment

Submitted by Ms. Tess!

With poetic text from Candace Fleming and cinematic illustrations from Eric Rohmann, Giant Squid tells the story of a majestic and mysterious underwater beast. The giant squid lives in the deep sea and very little is known about them. Scientists must hypothesize on limited observations and apocryphal stories about how the giant squid lives day to day. We know of its long tentacles, its large eyes, and its beaky mouth. But less is known about how and why a giant squid can change the color and even pattern of its skin. Or how many eggs it lays and where. The back matter of the book contains information about the anatomy of the giant squid, information about the precarious study of the giant squid, and resources for further information about the giant squid. This would be a wonderful book to share with an elementary-school-aged child in your life! See this book listed in our catalog