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Breathe

 Cover image for Breathe
Breathe
by Scott Magoon
Simon and Schuster, 2014. picture book

From the time the baby beluga takes his first breath, his life is filled with joy.  He swims, plays, dives and explores in the ocean depths with his mother close by.  There are dangers but the baby beluga knows how to stay safe and find "another way up."   Magoon's text is very simple, with only two or three words per page, but the writing is lyrical, like a free verse poem. The depiction of the beluga's undersea world is full of contrasts; the dark sea, the beluga's white body, and the shimmering silver bubbles.  This is a lovely STEM book for the youngest readers that encourages not only an appreciation for nature but a sense of wonder and well being.

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