Marine Biologists on a Dive

Gr 3-4–A youthful team of marine biologists take a dive in this realistic story. Maggie and her team study ocean life. Each of the team members has an important role to fulfill. Today, after spending months researching, the team is able to dive in the ocean to study a traveling pod of whales. Their main focus is to study the whales to learn more about how they communicate. Fleiss does an acceptable job at educating readers about marine biology through Maggie and her team, although the word choices and poor pacing can slow the plotting. Upper elementary students may have difficulty relating to the seemingly youthful scientists. They may also struggle to care about the story. The problem of a whale wrapped in a fishing net seems tacked on. Powell’s illustrations are whimsical and bring a sense of life to the story. However, the facial features of the team lack personality.