The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World's Coral Reefs by Kate Messner is a book about Ken Nedimyer. He loved the ocean as a child. I mean, really loved the ocean. He watched Jacques Cousteau on television, swam amongst coral reefs as a child, and had 30 aquariums in his bedroom. As an adult, he tackled the problem of dying coral reefs by creating coral colonies. "Six small coral colonies...glued onto a limestone surface where a reef had once flourished...Would they grow?" It was an enormous effort carried out by volunteers in the Florida Keys. It was so successful, that Nedimyer worked with other coutries to help their coral reefs flourish.
I thought this would make a fabulous Picture Book Talk lesson. I guess others did also, because I see seven resources based on this book. That was enough for me to put the book aside. But, honestly, I was unhappy with Matthew Forsythe's illustrations. The limited palette didn't reflect a brilliant deep for me. And they didn't add content to the text. I chose not to spend hours rereading this story and savoring the pictures.
