The best books that capture the excitement of ocean exploration for children—and adults

Ever since I saw my first whale breach the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the majesty of that huge body rising from the sea, then diving, its great tail fin slapping the water as it dove out of sight, I have been fascinated by these animals. On the boat that day, I learned that when whales dive, they leave a “footprint” on the surface.

You can actually see it right after the whale dives. Awesome is an appropriate word to use when describing living animals, but I never thought about what happens when a whale dies until I read Whale Fall. I enjoy learning something new when I read. From this book, I learned how the death of this great mammal nourishes new life at the bottom of the sea.

One of the treasured privileges of my life was working for the great ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau. It was from Cousteau, whom we called “the Captain” or “JYC” (pronounced Jeek for his initials, Jacques Yves Cousteau), that my passion for the ocean and the life within its depths expanded and intensified.

He called Earth our “water planet” because almost 71 percent of its surface is covered with water. He was one of my scientist/explorer heroes, a stunning example of what one person can do to enrich people’s lives with new knowledge and change the world for the better.

His television series, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, introduced and educated millions of people to the unseen beauty of life below the surface and the importance of protecting our life-sustaining oceans.

I will never dive miles below the ocean’s surface, but this book about the deep-sea submersible Alvin, which is operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, takes me from the sunlit surface to the dark world without the sun thousands of feet below.

I enjoyed learning how the submersible’s pilot maneuvers this small craft, large enough for only the pilot and two scientists, to the bottom of the sea. The author did a lot of research, including interviewing one of the Alvin’s pilots, so her book is filled with the kind of authentic details that make for good science writing. 

I am inspired by people who break barriers to succeed. Ichthyologist (fish biologist) Eugenie Clark is such a person. She became a deep-sea diver at a time when not many women were in the water actively doing ocean research. All ocean creatures interested her, but her specialty was sharks! During her 92-year lifespan, she made many dives both in submersible vehicles and with SCUBA.

Because of her work, she became known as the “Shark Lady.” Once, while diving, she rode on the back of a 50-foot whale shark. I have only seen sharks in large aquariums, such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, but thanks to Eugenie Clark’s underwater research, I have learned many surprising things about them in the wild. 

Octopuses are amazing creatures: eight legs, 3 hearts, and thousands of chromatophores in their skin that enable them to change color and patterns in a fraction of a second. But intelligence?

Years ago, when on a film assignment at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, I met a renowned scientist of animal behavior, the late Dr. Martin Moynihan, who said that cephalopods, the group of ocean animals that includes octopuses and squid, have a complex communication system.

He compared their repertoire of signals to a language with grammar and syntax. I filed that information away in my brain until I discovered Sy Montgomery’s book. During her research, Montgomery actually interacted with several octopuses. They got to know each other, with the animal showing as much curiosity as the author. This is a new view of octopuses for me.