100 books like The Tide Pool Waits

One look at the cover of this visually stunning, expertly crafted nonfiction picture book sparks the notion that the elusive giant squid has much more to teach us than what meets the eye.

Next, this opening line from the prologue plunges the reader into the squid’s mysterious world so the rest of the book can fulfill the cover’s promise:

"Down, down in the depths of the sunless sea, deep, deep in the cold, cold dark, creatures, strange and fearsome, lurk."

I was hooked from the get-go, and I know Fleming and Rohmann’s innovative pairing of poetic expository text with darkly arresting illustrations—with every word and brushstroke remaining faithful to the facts—will engage any reader lucky enough to pick up this book.

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.

I love this nonfiction book because it is about innovatively rebuilding Earth’s dying reefs. I also love biographies about ordinary humans who have achieved great things by pursuing their dreams–achievements born of compassion for the planet, its people, and the health and survival of all.

It’s the story of one man’s efforts to build more coral reefs. A second subtitle is The Story of Ken Nedimyer and the Coral Restoration Foundation. The book begins and ends with a provocative sentence: “It starts with one.” One polyp can grow into a life-giving reef. One person can rebuild dying reefs, create new ones, and create foundations so that others can support his vital work. Ken’s method is working! 

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.

Once again, there's a poetic quality in this discussion of the shore and the life within it.

The author talks about the lives of the creatures that live in the empty shells we find and the kinds of creatures found on rocky shores, sandy beaches, and coral reefs. Along the Maine coast are the surf zone and tide pools, where barnacles, limpets, and periwinkles live along rocky shores. On sandy beaches, we explore the holes and tracks of crabs and the burrows of clams and whelks that come out at low tide.

She discusses geologic history in the reefs off the Carolina coast and the sponges, starfish, barnacles, and shipworm tunnels in driftwood. In the Keys is the coral coast—with a vast variety of life. In this area are also mangrove swamps, making "the edge of the sea" a fascinating place. 

Great children's books about the ocean are very rare. Pagoo is a hermit crab, and Holling brings the shore and Pagoo to life. As a marine biologist and parent, I was overjoyed to see how an author and illustrator could produce such a wonderful and literate book that reached out to children so well.

Holling is at the very peak of children’s adventure writing, and he filled his books with magnificent illustrations.

This is a tiny little book and nowhere near as famous as her Silent Spring, but it doesn't need long to work its magic.

The Sense of Wonder helps you lay aside the habit you've developed of ignoring things you think you know, the familiar. To head into the woods with a child and hold back from telling them what things are and instead to see things with them and through those eyes.

I've done this with my daughters and have seen worlds I would have missed with them. As Carson writes: “Exploring nature with your child is largely a matter of becoming receptive to what lies all around you."

This book is another classic of marine biology. It focuses on the shore as a place of wonder, excitement, and beauty.

It describes the behaviors and habitats of the animals in the rocky shores and tide pools of the Pacific Coast of the US. The animals are discussed in relation to their habitat, be it rocky shore, sandy beach, wharf piling, or mud flat.

The detailed and fascinating lives of these creatures are described in relation to their physiology, life history, interrelationships in their community, and the influences of waves and shifting tides.

Although this is not a book, I found the audiobook insightful and full of practical ideas for those of us who prefer a quiet life. With so much noise and distraction in the world, it is easy to be swept into turbulent tides that take us nowhere.

For those who find the world overwhelming, Susan's 7 steps give us permission to have lives of purpose and meaning without being loud and honoring our preferred approach to life.

If you have a teenager wanting to be a marine biologist, this is the book to read! It is a coming-of-age book but also one of great charm and devotion to marine life. The tale and the writing are irresistible. It is so rare for an author to personalize marine biology, especially for teenagers.

This book does a remarkable thing. I loved it because it was a great story about teenagers who somehow managed to connect their love for the shoreline, and it even managed to give us a lot of great biology. Children often want to be marine biologists but their love is usually not very well connected to the real worlds of the ocean.

This book is a really great Natural History book. It puts teenagers in the mud, collecting clams, and doing things marine biologists do. Yet it has a heart—a really great book.