A Coral Reef Story

This beautiful book brings together facts about coral reefs, an evocative narrative, and breathtaking illustrations.

The story begins as a female clownfish lays hundreds of eggs at full moon. The eggs are guarded by a male clownfish, before hatching after a week. As the book progresses, we follow the life cycle of one of the baby clownfish. Starting out as a male, it forms a symbiotic relationship with a sea anemone--they each protect the other from predators, and supply each other with food. We meet the animals and coral reef plants that life alongside the clownfish, including great white sharks, barracudas, eels, and countless coral reef fish. At the end of the book, our clownfish undergoes a remarkable transformation, becoming a female and laying her eggs alongside her sea anemone partner--and so the cycle begins again.

This is a timely book that is sure to stimulate discussion between parent and child about the importance of protecting our planet's ecosystems and habitats. It's an essential purchase for both school libraries and the home. Future titles in the series will focus on the following habitats: forest, desert, ocean, rain forest, river, and mountain.