The cover isn't real attractive but ,oh the book is so cool. Well written for the younger audience and for us older folks. The book focuses on the Kelp forest and its inhabitants. The world protected sea otter is featured many times. The pictures fit the text perfect. The book was first printed in 1992 and definitely endures the test of time. In the beginning of the book, Norbert Wu states the purpose of the book: "to help children discover beauty and life in a world they may otherwise not know at all." I'd say he achieved his goal. Kids can read this one alone, in a class setting and again with their parents.

This slim bit of eye candy gave me a great little introduction to the Kelp Forests! It has wonderful pictures and a great description of the kelp forest ecosystem. It's great for children, too!

This is a beautifully-written book with illustration that perfectly accompany the story. It's a great way to get children interested in nature, but adults will enjoy it too.

This book is beautifully written, but easy for young readers to follow. The descriptions are enough to make any child want to learn more about marine biology and nature. Also the illustrations are wonderful and add so much to the story. I would recommend this book as a bedtime story or a good read for nature enthusiasts of all ages.

The efforts of Laurence Pringle and Norbert Wu combined effectively to unleash this fine book.
"Scholastic Encyclopedia of Animals" is one graphical zoo, which browsed through a wide variety of animals: fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Sound descriptions and illustrations were very common here. Ecology, as well as the physical and the behavioural characters of each animal was discussed.
Not only will school-children appreciate the contents of this book, it will serve as vital educational and leisure introduction (to life-science) for them. Whereas toddlers may use it to identify some domestic animals which they have seen before, older pupils will use it to sooth their curiosities: which may serve as an early precursor for interest in the fields of Biology, Agriculture, and General Science.

My kindergarten son just loves this book. He bought it at school and for the past few months has carried it around with him almost as much as his favorite stuffed animal. It's written for middle-elementary aged kids but he can read well and has increased his reading skills in the process. The animals are all presented in alphabetical order, which is another feature that he loves.

The creator of this book is a marine biologist, and the colorful overlays of his underwater photographs are so interesting, they make the text's general lack of flow (hence, the three star rating) seem less important. Both rare and more familiar fish are showcased, and notes in the back of the book identify them all. Some of the more fierce-looking fish presented are so intense they might be scary to sensitive younger readers, but they were not so for my two-year-old, who really liked puring over all the pages of this book.

doesn't give any advice for seasoned photogs. Was looking for light placement...specifics of film ratings vs light position vs full or qtr power, etc for specific lenses/situations. Nothing there.

Mr. Wu primarily covers the difference in the photographic requirements underwater as compared to land photography including the effects of using a specific manufacturer's film. If your knowledge of photography basics is minimal you will be best served to grasp these elsewhere before reading this concisely written book. He all but eliminates the clutter of the basics. I felt he may have been too brief. It is definitely not exhaustive. I think that more examples of the various lenses available and their effects, camera manufacturers who make special cameras for this purpose, and lighting requirements that exist underwater could have been expanded without going beyond the scope of the writer's intent. If you need or want more detail, then this book is not for you. Overall, I think it's a good refresher book.

The author does not include the basics of photography (f-stops, film speed, etc) in this text as other authors do. (For an excellent chapter on the basics, see Jim Church's Essential Guide to Nikonos Systems.) Rather, the author intends this text for photographers with some experience. I appreciated his opinions and reasoning. Rather than try and present all types of strobes, Norbert Wu states what he finds successful and why he uses them. Considering his list of accomplishments, I take his recommendations seriously. The chapter on films I found very helpful. The photo captions were great, too. I also liked that the book was very to-the-point. Again, this text is not meant for a beginning photographer, but rather someone with a few frames under his weight belt.