‘The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jaques Cousteau‘ is a great book written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarina. Jaques Cousteau was the world’s ambassador of the oceans, and his popular TV series brought marine wildlife straight to people’s homes. In this picture book, we learn about the amazing man behind the snorkel.

Cousteau was born as a weak child, so was encouraged to swim to build up body strength. From the first time he got a look at the fish under the ocean, he loved it. So, he set sail and his team of scientists invented new diving equipment and waterproof cameras. With that, they made televisions shows and wrote books to share what they saw. And when he saw that pollution from boats, Cousteau wanted to educate people on protecting the oceans.

I could make a handful of connections to the story of Jaques Cousteau. First of all, I can relate to his snorkeling experiences. Although I was scared of the sea when I was younger, now I really like looking at all the fish in the water. Over spring break, I had actually snorkeled at the Xel-Há Cancun Waterpark, and brought home a complimentary snorkel they gave us as a souvenir. Furthermore, I could link this to the world, as pollution is a huge global issue. In school, we’re learning about renewable energy, which are sources of electricity that don’t pollute the air as much as fossil fuels. And finally, I’ve seen advertisements about marine wildlife (everyone loves Marineland!). They show videos of things you can do at their attraction.

All in all, the picture book about Jaques Cousteau was a perfect connection to our learning about clean energy sources.