84 Books Like The Brilliant Deep

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. 

“The river’s rhythm runs through my veins. Runs through my people’s veins.” This Caldecott Medal-winning picture book about the Indigenous-led movement to protect water as a sacred resource deserves all the accolades it has received. In a clear and powerful voice, Lindstrom’s young narrator reflects on the critical importance of water to her community, its spiritual significance, and the need to come together and stand up against an oil pipeline that threatens it.

I love how the book uses abstract language and imagery to tell a sweeping story of environmental justice and resistance that starts with one community’s fight to save its waterways and zooms out to include the whole world. At a time when environmental stories can be scary, sad, and overwhelming, Lindstrom’s poetic text encourages us to “Take courage!”

I love this book because it introduces our beloved children (6-10 years old) to one of the most mysterious and elusive creatures on Earth: the giant squid. Just think about it: until 2006, no humans had even seen one of these animals alive!

I study dolphins and whales, and sperm whales hunt these creatures in the cold and dark depths of the oceans. But while even kids know something about sperm whales, giant squid remains a mystery to most of us. How do they hunt? What do they eat? How do they breed? Award-winning author Candace Fleming and illustrator Eric Rohmann do a wonderful job of describing and painting this little-understood species.

I love a good photo-essay, and this one for ages 10+ examines the declining seahorse population and what one conservationist group has done to try to reverse that trend in The Philippines.

Eye-popping photography draws readers in, inviting them to witness the charming seahorse’s life, habitat, and precarious circumstances; to watch scuba-diving scientists collect crucial research; and to understand efforts to educate children and communities about aquacultural practices that help protect seahorses and their underwater environment.

This adorable story revolves around Shawn, whose love for the majestic shark is so strong that he revels in learning all the things about its life and function in the sea.

When it’s time for his class to draw predator names for a project assignment, Shawn is devastated to wind up with the Leopard Seal instead of the Great White Shark that Stacy drew. Tensions flare between the two when Stacy refuses to trade predators.

The rest of the story unfolds as Shawn slowly realizes he can love sharks and seals, and that a really great thing about humans—like Stacy and him—is that they can figure out how to become friends with each other.

This lyrical nonfiction picture book takes readers on a mesmerizing, sometimes dramatic, and almost deceptively informative exploration of a tide pool’s inner workings at the ocean’s edge.

Fleming’s virtuosic text (complete with significant backmatter) is gorgeously enhanced by Hevron’s layered artwork, and while the book works perfectly as intended for very young children, it’s also a special treat for more skilled readers to read and revisit.

This book showed me things that both thrilled me and made me look so deeply at myself, at times, it was painful. I love it because it shows me—on a soul level—that everything is listening. The idea that water, something so ordinary and taken for granted, yet so integral to life, could respond to words, emotions, and intention made me slow down and really consider the energy I carry and put out into the world.

It taught me that healing doesn't always have to be loud or dramatic—it can be as subtle as a whispered “thank you” to a glass of water. Reading this book changed how I speak to myself and others, how I bless my tea, and how I cry. It made me believe in words, thoughts, and emotions as a force of transformation. I keep it close for when I need to reconnect with the softness of… show more.

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.

That’s right: that Charles Darwin, the author of The Origin of the Species. Seventeen years before that ground-shaking book, he wrote what marine scientists tell me remains the definitive work on the structure of coral reefs. Forget the famous Punch caricature of the gray-haired man trailing a long beard and a chimpanzee and think of the youthful naturalist daring crashing waves to vault to the edge of a South Pacific fringe reef. In places his accounts read like True Adventures for Boys.   

Dr. John E.N. Veron, called Charlie by everyone who knows him, is an Australian coral reef scientist. He is also the person who single-handedly sorted out the names of the corals in the 1980s by emphasizing the study of corals in their natural habitats on reefs. Prior taxonomy, based on dried, cleaned bits of skeletons, had resulted in much confusion given the considerable plasticity of the form of corals growing in different reef habitats. This book is Charlie’s account of his life as a marine scientist, from his earliest exploring of rocky shores near Sydney to his numerous expeditions to reefs around the world over the course of his career. 

His love of the natural world, his curiosity and willingness to take risks, and his dogged determination in solving scientific puzzles stand out. So too do his humor, his down-to-earth Australian-ness, and his loving respect for corals, for reefs, and… show more.