Bibliography
Jenkins, Steve. 2009. DOWN, DOWN DOWN: A JOURNEY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 9780618966363
Plot Summary
This informational book about sea life begins at sea level and works its way down to the Marianas Trench. It explores a wide variety of sea life from commonly known fish such as mackerel and tuna to unfamiliar sea creatures such as the loosejaw stoplight fish and the fangtooth. The different environments of the sea are also described.
This informational book about sea life begins at sea level and works its way down to the Marianas Trench. It explores a wide variety of sea life from commonly known fish such as mackerel and tuna to unfamiliar sea creatures such as the loosejaw stoplight fish and the fangtooth. The different environments of the sea are also described.
Critical Analysis
DOWN, DOWN, DOWN: A JOURNEY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA is a photo essay book filled with beautiful lifelike illustrations of several different types of sea life. Steve Jenkins begins the journey just above the surface of the Pacific Ocean and continues down little by little. To help the reader have a sense of how deep things are, a bar graph to the right of every spread shows the depth and the temperature of each sea area below the surface. For example, "the twilight zone begins about 660 feet below the surface" (Jenkins 2009). Sunlight no longer reaches this zone. Each level of the ocean in this book is featured over several pages and is accompanied with illustrations of the different sea life that live in those areas. A brief summary describing each environment is also included in each spread. This book does not include a table of contents, but it does have more information in the back of the book about each sea creature featured. Diagrams located in the back show the size of each of the creatures compared to an adult human's body or hand. A bibliography is also included noting five different sources of information about the ocean leading me to believe the information provided by Jenkins is very accurate.
The organization of the information provided is superb as it is described at different levels below the sea with the help of the depth gauge provided. Each different sea creature is described according to the depth level it is located in. For example, most of the well known sea life such as the green sea turtle is described in the sunlit zone. The illustrations portray all of the sea creatures accurately and lifelike. The background color gets darker as the book describes the deeper parts of the sea which helps the reader envision what it would be like to explore the ocean. Since the background is dark, the color of the text is in white, which at first I found a little hard to adjust to, but it became easier as the background color darkened. Jenkins uses a style of writing in this book that makes the reader feel as though they are actually on a deep-sea voyage. He addresses the readers directly with dialogue such as "All around us a delicate "marine snow" is falling." He also prevents young readers from feeling overwhelmed by adding the pronunciation of certain words such as bioluminescent (by-oh-loo-muh-nes-uhnt) and abyssal (ah-bis-uhl).
My 9-year-old nephew must have been impressed by the book cover, because he picked up this book off of my desk and started reading it. I later asked him what he thought of the book, and he said he especially liked the pictures of the sea creatures and showed me the one he found most interesting. Our conversation intrigued his sisters enough to ask to read the book. They also loved the illustrations.
Review Excerpt(s)
BOOKLIST review: "In this plunge into the deep, Jenkins displays his usual keen awareness of what is fascinating about biology and imparts it without sensationalism—the facts speak for themselves. Light becomes an impossibility only a tiny fraction of the way down into the ocean, and the deeper this book goes, the darker the palette and the scarier and stranger the beast encountered. Sophisticated cut- and torn-paper collage-work fit the alien qualities of the subjects well; it’s equally at home capturing the tiered needlepoints of lizardfish teeth as it is delivering an impressive and illuminating display of bioluminescence. The scale of just how staggeringly deep the ocean is, and how little we know of much beyond what happens at the surface, is conveyed by sidebars on each page that drop precipitously from sea level to the ocean floor many miles below. Thorough endnotes give greater detail on each of the featured creatures and help make this a most welcome introduction to the sometimes-surprising world of marine biology."
BOOKLIST review: "In this plunge into the deep, Jenkins displays his usual keen awareness of what is fascinating about biology and imparts it without sensationalism—the facts speak for themselves. Light becomes an impossibility only a tiny fraction of the way down into the ocean, and the deeper this book goes, the darker the palette and the scarier and stranger the beast encountered. Sophisticated cut- and torn-paper collage-work fit the alien qualities of the subjects well; it’s equally at home capturing the tiered needlepoints of lizardfish teeth as it is delivering an impressive and illuminating display of bioluminescence. The scale of just how staggeringly deep the ocean is, and how little we know of much beyond what happens at the surface, is conveyed by sidebars on each page that drop precipitously from sea level to the ocean floor many miles below. Thorough endnotes give greater detail on each of the featured creatures and help make this a most welcome introduction to the sometimes-surprising world of marine biology."
KIRKUS review: "From above the surface to the bottom of the deepest sea canyon, unusual creatures inhabit every level of our oceans, even those seemingly hostile to life. In this intriguing introduction, Jenkins explores the Pacific, gradually descending to its depths (shown by a scale along the right hand side of each double-page spread). His signature cut-paper illustrations show more than 50 creatures, from the albatross in the air to the flatfish living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Along the way he introduces such oddities as a three-foot comb jelly called a Venus's girdle, a glowing siphonophore colony and a hairy angler with her parasitic mate. Browsers will be delighted by the variety of species, shown in their appropriate colors although not to scale. Backmatter provides some information about the animals pictured, including sizes compared to a human body or hand, although the bibliography does not seem to include the sources used for those facts. Once again, Jenkins provides an almost irresistible entry into our natural world for the youngest readers."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review: "tarting at the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Jenkins introduces some of the animals that inhabit descending layers of water all the way down to the Marianas Trench. At nearly 36,000 feet, this zone has been visited only once, by human passengers of a research vessel. Depicted in Jenkins's signature handsome collages, the denizens of each level swim against ever-darkening backgrounds ranging from sunny blue to deepest black. Each double-page segment begins with a paragraph or two explaining the growing degree of darkness, cold, and pressure, and how all of these affect the lives of the resident creatures. A bar running down the far right of each scene indicates depth. Usually three or four animals—whales, fish, worms, and more—are featured. Sometimes colorful or luminescent and often toothy, they are both familiar and strange. In some views, the animals are relative in size, but in others, those that are actually quite different in scale appear to be similar. At the end of the book, an added paragraph about each scene takes up the matter of size. Here length is stated, and silhouettes compare each creature to either an adult human's hand or a full body. The bold views tend to emphasize the weirdness of these little-known species, but the repeated message that humans have much to explore and learn in the deeper ocean is intriguing and inviting. This is a good complement to Sneed B. Collard's The Deep-Sea Floor (Charlesbridge, 2003), which introduces some of the same animals and offers more information about recent exploration."
Connections
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review: "tarting at the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Jenkins introduces some of the animals that inhabit descending layers of water all the way down to the Marianas Trench. At nearly 36,000 feet, this zone has been visited only once, by human passengers of a research vessel. Depicted in Jenkins's signature handsome collages, the denizens of each level swim against ever-darkening backgrounds ranging from sunny blue to deepest black. Each double-page segment begins with a paragraph or two explaining the growing degree of darkness, cold, and pressure, and how all of these affect the lives of the resident creatures. A bar running down the far right of each scene indicates depth. Usually three or four animals—whales, fish, worms, and more—are featured. Sometimes colorful or luminescent and often toothy, they are both familiar and strange. In some views, the animals are relative in size, but in others, those that are actually quite different in scale appear to be similar. At the end of the book, an added paragraph about each scene takes up the matter of size. Here length is stated, and silhouettes compare each creature to either an adult human's hand or a full body. The bold views tend to emphasize the weirdness of these little-known species, but the repeated message that humans have much to explore and learn in the deeper ocean is intriguing and inviting. This is a good complement to Sneed B. Collard's The Deep-Sea Floor (Charlesbridge, 2003), which introduces some of the same animals and offers more information about recent exploration."
Connections
- Children can draw and color the different types of sea creatures found in this book.
- This book will prompt children to want to learn more about ocean life.
- This is an excellent book to read aloud to introduce sea life in a science class.
Other books by Steve Jenkins:
- Jenkins, Steve. 2004. ACTUAL SIZE. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 9780618375943
- Jenkins, Steve. 2010. BONES: SKELETONS AND HOW THEY WORK. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 9780545046510
- Jenkins, Steve. 2009. NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY: AND 17 OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN: 9780618966202
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