How we came to be: Surprising sea creatures by Sami Bayley

Join author/illustrator Sami Bayly on a fantastic diving journey deep down into the ocean and be introduced to some of the amazing creatures that reside in each zone. This cleverly presented and strikingly illustrated book begins with a personal welcome from Sami who shares her love of unusual animals and an explanation of evolution.

This is followed by an introduction to each of the five ocean zones: Sunlight, Twilight, Midnight, the Abyss and finally the Trenches. The reader is then able to join Sami, easily identifiable by her yellow diving suit, as she swims through each zone offering information and humorous conversation. In the twilight zone she accidentally steps on a spotted deepsea flounder who chats to Sami giving details about itself.  As well as conversation bubbles there are brightly coloured circles giving varied and interesting facts. For example, ‘a creature that doesn’t have to swim to catch its food is the vampire squid, as it feeds on marine snow-microscopic dead organism that drift down from above.’ In the final pages are more surprising sea creatures including the Blobfish, Cockatoo Squid, Wolf Eel and the Faceless Fish.

This fabulous book has a place in all libraries and would also be a wonderful gift for children of all ages. Teacher's resources are available.

Themes: Evolution, Sea Creatures, Underwater Journey.

Kathryn Beilby