OCEAN SOUP: A Recipe for You, Me, and a Cleaner Sea: A Picture Book Review and Giveaway

 Beware! Reading this nonfiction picture book written by Meeg Pincus and illustrated by Lucy Semple, may convince you that you are over-using plastic. That's what it did for me!

Do you see those four children walking along the beach on the cover? Those characters illustrate the scenes of Ocean Soup (Sleeping Bear Press, 2021) as they go from playing at the beach, to discovering that what appears to be pure and clean under a microscope is SOUP! And not a very tasty or healthy one either. 

REVIEW

As you can tell, Meeg Pincus wrote a book with a powerful message, in simple and accessible verse. On a few pages she shows how people have been using styrofoam cups, bottled water, synthetic fibers, and plastic containers without thinking about the consequences to our environment. 

The four characters ask an important question:

Do you ever wonder how this produced Ocean Soup? 

How such everyday habits made saltwater goop? 

 

 

Here is a fact I didn't know:

Once it's made , any plastic is with us to stay. 

It's on Earth till forever--there's no real "away."

Here are more interesting facts shown on a spread of the world's oceans:

Sad and startling is the fact that Ocean Soup fills the bellies of all types of creatures from dolphins to plankton to crabs. And if plastic is in the bellies of fish then,

The "story" ends with four pages of suggestions of ways in which children can use less plastic. 

End notes include lists of the plastics that pollute the world's seas and a recipe for cleaner oceans. Meeg's author's note reflected how I felt after reading Ocean Soup:

I wrote this book to remind myself about my own impact on my beloved ocean, by the daily choices I make, as much as anyone else. We all need to rethink our use of plastic and speak up to manufactures and lawmakers about the overproduction. It will take a sea change to save our seas--and it starts with each one of us, each day.

This great curriculum resource can be useful in kindergarten through fourth grade. The characters appear to be around eight, but the book's message that is delivered in smooth rhyme, is for all ages.

Here's an interesting note from Meeg about the four children who show up throughout the book. Since they have no speaking lines, I wondered if she created them or suggested them to the illustrator. Here is what she said:

"The four kids were a creation of the art team for the book, actually! I'm not sure who among the illustrator, art director, and editor came up with them, but I was so thrilled when I saw them! I think it's a great example of how "leaving room for the illustrator" can lead to magic when the artist sees their own story within the author's story."

GIVEAWAY

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