Here is the Coral Reef

            “Here is the Coral Reef” is education book about the underwater world of the coral reef.  This book uses a combination of lyrical verses and repetition that explores and reinforces the lesson of interdependence amongst creatures that live by the coral reef.  Madeleine Dunphy begins with a simple sentence “Here is the coral reef.”  As the reader turns the pages more and more information is added to the beginning sentence that explains how the creatures rely on each other to live.  By the last page, the interdependences of the creatures that live in the coral reef comes full-circle when the eel hides in the coral reef from the shark. 

            Tom Leonard illustrated breath taking pictures for this book.  Each picture represents the next stage in the circle of life.  The illustrations are extremely realistic and are an accurate representation of size and color of the actual animals that live by the coral reef.  One of the most interesting things about the pictures in this book is that each picture gives a hit about the next creature in the interdependence cycle by having that create somewhere on the page.  It is fun to try to guess what creature will be included on the next page. 

            The very last page of the books has a picture of each of the animals and plants described in the book.  There is also a caption that explains that the coral reef is threatened by human activity, and even gives a help line if the read wants to have more information.  I believe this last page would be more informative if the captions about the animals not only had their pictures and names but also information about them. 

            This would be a great book to read laud to younger students.  Because of the repetitiveness of the passages the students would be able to easily recite many parts of the book.  This would keep them very engaged and entertained.  This is also a very good book to use when talking about life cycle and interdependence amongst animals in a habitat.