Learning Before A Trip

  
              Thanks to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy, everyone shares wonderful non-fiction picture books. We learn much from authors who are sharing about their own special topics.
              I'm taking off Saturday for two weeks on the beach, may probably post again because family doesn't come in till next Wednesday late. I thought it would be a fun thing to save an ocean book for today, anticipating!

           With a book by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Raul Colon, how could it be anything but great? This tells the story of Marie Tharp, whose vision helped her persist in going where no one had ever gone, figuring out how to map the ocean floor.

          Even the endpapers excite, ocean covered with a school of fish, as we begin this watery journey. Here's a photo of the title page, with lovely soft colors and that hand, clearly defining Marie's goal!

              Marie Tharp's father was a map maker, and they moved often for his work. She loved watching what he did, and ended up graduating from college with four degrees, including one in science. At the time, the late 1940's, few thought that women should be scientists, and Marie struggled to find a job. Finally she did, often given menial tasks, but she persisted, and became interested in what the bottom of the ocean looked like. This time people were beginning to collect data of the depth of the ocean floor through what are termed "soundings". This is when machines send sounds to the bottom of the floor and determine the depth by the time it takes for an echo to return. 
               Through use of the sounding data, Marie slowly "drew" what the ocean floor was like. She remembered the prior love of mapping, used colors Yes, with mountains just like on land. At this same time, the theory of continental drift was hypothesized, and disputed as well. Marie's observations from her map showed a rift between the mountain peaks of what was now named the "Mid-Atlantic Range, proving that something had "pushed" or "pulled" them apart. 
                It's a fascinating story, with beautifully illustrated pages showing Marie's work, and the beautiful ocean that, until her work, was less understood. There is additional information about Marie Tharp, a glossary, a bibliography and a short essay about "wondering". Wondering questions then searching for answers is how Marie started thinking about the ocean, and this piece challenges the reader to do that too. Make maps, take your own soundings, and more. For those studying anything, this is an inspiration in persistence, keep questioning!