The Brilliant Deep

The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World's Coral Reefs
By Kate Messner
Illustrated by Matthew Forsythe
Chronicle Books, 2018. Informational.

The first thing most readers will be drawn to is the beautiful, colorful illustrations on the cover of this book (and the opalescent details that can't be captured in a picture). If this is what interests you in this book, you will not be disappointed. Each page is filled with similarly stunning full-page, full-color illustrations. I think that Matthew Forsythe is an underappreciated illustrator working today, and this book will convince you of the same.

Once they've cracked the cover, readers are quick to find that the story and text of this book are equally captivating. This book ambitiously conveys quite a bit of information - how coral reefs spawn and grow, threats facing coral reefs, Ken Nedimyer and the Coral Restoration Foundation, ongoing efforts to save the coral reefs - but it does so quite simply with thoughtful, inviting language. Perhaps my favorite part of this book is in the simple message repeated on the first and last page "It starts with one," suggesting that one person can really make a big difference.

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