Sunken Ship
by Amy Hevron; illus. by the author
Primary    Beach Lane/Simon    48 pp.
9/24    9781665935005    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781665935012    $10.99

In 1733 a hurricane wrecks a Spanish galleon, which then sinks to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea and begins to serve as an artificial reef. Hevron’s account of the transformation from shipwreck to coral reef steps across the years, decades, and centuries to the present day. In “year 1,” the ship is food, shelter, and a sturdy resting place for organisms with entertaining names such as piddocks, gribbles, and sea lettuce and to the coral larvae that begin to multiply. By “year 10” the ship has become an “underwater nursery” for blue tangs, damselfish, and lobsters, while the coral continues to grow. Numerous aquatic species continue to proliferate over the centuries, as the ship itself decomposes and disappears into the sand. Hevron’s textured wood-grain digital collages are a natural choice to represent not only the wooden ship but also the movements of ocean currents and the swirling sands of the sea floor. In the foreground, the colorful animals that compose the “rainbow of reef life” take on human expressions with their cartoonlike eyes and add humor with jokes in speech bubbles. End notes explain more about artificial reefs and provide additional sources and resources.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.