flying deep climb inside deep sea submersible alvin

Twelve-year-old Claudia Dalton's passion for puzzles becomes a high-stakes pursuit when her usually dependable father goes into hiding in 'The Jigsaw Jungle' (Putnam, ages 10 and up), an ingeniously plotted middle-grade novel by Kristin Levine. Nicole Wong's detailed digital illustrations add an exciting immediacy to the descent and to the glowing wonders of the deep. But you're safe inside Alvin.' The machine called Alvin can fit only one additional person than the Bathysphere did, but it goes much deeper (more than 14,000 feet, or almost three miles). With 'Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin' (Charlesbridge, ages 5 to 9), Michelle Cusolito takes readers on a 'you are there' mission to examine the site of once-active underwater volcanoes: 'Animals here thrive in toxic chemicals, blistering temperatures, and intense pressure. Katherine Roy's engaging watercolor illustrations capture both the cramped quarters of the Bathysphere (its interior diameter was four-and-a-half feet) and the revelatory views of creatures 800 feet below the surface. When they teamed up, in the late 1920s, no person had survived a depth beyond a few hundred feet. In 'Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere' (Little, Brown ages 5 to 9), Barb Rosenstock tells a little-known true story about Otis Barton and Will Beebe, who dared to explore the ocean depths inside a hollow metal ball that Barton had designed.

Two new picture books immerse young readers in the ocean. Young readers will be captivated by the exuberantly detailed artwork and warmed by the promise of dumplings, as Finn's mother wakes him to come home for dinner. Weightless, flying, floating, diving, swimming creatures and vessels surround him. Finn sails to where the blue air merges with the watery depths and a huge blue whale, sailing ships and luminous jellyfish accompany him. A long-whiskered fish, exactly the right kind for magic with its golden scales and wise eyes (and looking much like Finn's grandfather), guides Finn on his journey to the horizon with all its promise of wishes, dreams and hope. When Finn peeks out from below decks and finds himself on a blue sea, the sky is full of amazing shapes, and a pale blue mist, as if the sky and the sea were merging, is all around him. Finn assembles materials - a piece of wooden fence, a window frame or two and other odds and ends - to build his boat. At its center is Finn, a small boy who 'lived by the sea' and has some treasured gifts from his grandfather whose 90th birthday would have been today: a love of sailing, and stories about the place where the sea and sky come together.

Eric and Terry Fan's 'Ocean Meets Sky' (Simon & Schuster, ages 4 to 8) is about sailors, dreamers and the gifts of grandfathers.

Flying deep climb inside deep sea submersible alvin