Oceanography comes to life in children’s book

By Kathryn Reed

I may have never liked science, but if a book like “Teacher at Sea: Miss Cook’s Voyage on the Ronald H. Brown” had been around when I was a kid, maybe it would have piqued my interest.

What is so fun about this book is that Miss Cook is a real person. At least at the time when this was published in 2005 she taught eighth-grade Earth science in Arkansas.In 2004 she was NOAA’s teacher at sea on board the agency’s ship Ronald H. Brown.

The beautifully illustrated (Bruce David Cowden) book is published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It follows Cook’s time while she was on the research vessel.

While this may not sound like a kids book, it is. The science contained in it is at the middle school level. The pictures could entertain much younger children, but the information will be over their heads.

I don’t know how well this book would go over with middle schoolers because it very much looks like a children’s book. Maybe it would be OK for sixth-graders. It definitely appealed to a middle-aged woman who never did well at science. And for little ones, the pictures will captivate them and might spur them to get excited about oceanography.

In the back is a glossary of scientific words that range from life vest to radiosonde to barnacle. There are also Internet resources listed for teachers, parents and students.

The book was co-written by Cook and Diane Marie Stanitski.