Oceanography & Scuba Diving Books {Obsession, Meet Book Series}

“Divers! Divers! Divers!” This refrain has been endlessly repeated in my home over the past 3+ months by Toddler Bookworm, and also about two years ago for a long period of time when Preschool Bookworm was the exact same age.

This obsession may be a special niche, but it has a strong hold on our home! Below are our favorite titles for the scuba obsessed. (I may or may not have hidden several of these titles periodically, from sheer exhaustion of re-reading.)

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Under Water/Under Earth by Aleksandra Mizielinski. I originally bought this for Preschool Bookworm, thinking I would put it aside until he was a bit older. Well, Toddler Bookworm has claimed it as his own and LOVES poring over the illustrations. A “flip book” designed as two books in one, the first half explores the under water world (history of submarines & diving suits, deep dwelling creatures, reefs, lakes, oceans, giants of the deep, under water chimneys, the Mariana Trench), and the second half under land (mines, tunnels, subways, tectonic plates, sewage systems, volcanoes, geysers, the earth’s layers, burrowing animals, roots, bugs). It is LARGE, each page a double spread of 21″. I know we will get a lot more mileage out of this book as part of our science collection.

Life in the Ocean: The Life of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola. This book is beautifully told, and definitely not for the diving obsessed alone. Sylvia Earle is simply inspiring and her biography told in this picture book is so interesting! (She was named Hero for the Planet by Time magazine, incidentally. She has published many books for adults, too.) The text is a bit beyond Toddler Bookworm, but the illustrations are beautiful and lend themselves to plenty of ocean-themed conversations.

Dive: My Adventures in the Deep Frontier by Sylvia Earle. Sadly, Earle’s autobiography for children is out of print, but it’s worth tracking down. Preschool Bookworm adores this photo of Earle reading a book under the water to the fish!

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne. For older readers (or younger if they, like Toddler Bookworm, will accept poring over beautiful pictures and pointing to “divers” endlessly, while not reading text). An interesting biography of the famous oceanographer, told in rich, poetic language and set beside captivating illustrations.

Pete the Cat: Scuba Cat by James Dean. We love Pete the Cat and we love all things scuba, so this was a sure winner in our home! It’s a quick, cute story. Not much depth 😉 but that hasn’t kept Toddler Bookworm from requesting this read aloud 189 times. This week.

Scuba Dog by Ann Marie Stephens. I found the plot to be odd, but Toddler Bookworm enjoyed the concept of a dog scuba diving. If you’re looking for a fictional diving story, this is a nice option.

Oh, and we are quite obsessed with this diving video, Sharks: Knights of the Sea. Impressive video footage and very informative! We have borrowed this from our library so many times over the years, and it’s still going strong!