24 hours under the ocean by Lan Cook. Illus. by Laurent Kling

In this release from Usborne, readers are invited to "join two scientists as they climb inside a hi-tech submersible and descend into the darkest depths of the Pacific Ocean. Meet strange-looking creatures thousands of miles below the surface and explore alien landscapes. Discover how experiments are performed at the bottom of the ocean, what happens after a whale dies, and what makes extremophiles so extreme."  But while there have been any number of fiction and non fiction books that have taken the reader to the depths of the ocean to see what exists where the sun doesn't shine and it is a world of perpetual darkness, this one is written for slightly older readers combining a graphic novel format that follows the journey of Jun and Syl as they join the crew of the RV Abyss, a newly-refitted submarine that has the capability to go deeper than any other with double-page spreads of information about what they discover. It reaches out to a slightly older audience with its information using a format that will appeal more readily giving a whole new slant to narrative non fiction, as well as being perfect for booking an adventure, as would the others in this series.

Themes: Ocean.

Barbara Braxton